Influence of pore structure on biologically activated carbon performance and biofilm microbial characteristics

Optimizing the characteristics of granular activated carbon(GAC)can improve the performance of biologically activated carbon(BAC)filters,and iodine value has always been the principal index for GAC selection.However,in this study,among three types of GAC treating the same humic acidcontaminated water,one had an iodine value 35%lower than the other two,but the dissolved organic carbon removal efficiency of its BAC was less than 5%away from the others.Iodine value was found to influence the removal of different organic fractions instead of the total removal efficiency.Based on the removal and biological characteristics,two possible mechanisms of organic matter removal during steady-state were suggested.For GAC with poor micropore volume and iodine value,high molecular weight substances(3500–9000 Da)were removed mainly through degradation by microorganisms,and the biodegraded organics(soluble microbial by-products,<3500 Da)were released because of the low adsorption capacity of activated carbon.For GAC with higher micropore volume and iodine value,organics with low molecular weight(<3500 Da)were more easily removed,first being adsorbed by micropores and then biodegraded by the biofilm.The biomass was determined by the pore volume with pore diameters greater than 100μm,but did not correspond to the removal efficiency.Nevertheless,the microbial community structure was coordinate with both the pore structure and the organic removal characteristics.The findings provide a theoretical basis for selecting GAC for the BAC process based on its pore structure.

Pilot plant study on ozonation and biological activated carbon process for drinking water treatment

A study on advanced drinking water treatment was conducted in a pilot scale plant taking water from conventional treatment process. Ozonation-biological activated carbon process （O3-BAC） and granular activated carbon process （GAC） were evaluated based on the following parameters： CODMn, UV254, total organic carbon （TOC）, assimilable organic carbon （AOC） and biodegradable dissolved organic carbon （BDOC）. In this test, the average removal rates of CODMn, UV254 and TOC in O3-BAC were 18.2%, 9.0% and 10.2% higher on （AOC） than in GAC, respectively. Ozonation increased 19.3-57.6 μg Acetate-C/L in AOC-P17, 45.6-130.6 μg Acetate-C/L in AOC-NOX and 0.1-0.5 mg/L in BDOC with ozone doses of 2 8 mg/L. The optimum ozone dose for maximum AOC formation was 3 mgO3/L. BAC filtration was effective process to improve biostability.

Treatment of flotation wastewater using biological activated carbon

A laboratory scale up-flow biological activated carbon(BAC) reactor was constructed for the advanced treatment of synthetic flotation wastewater. Biodegradation of a common collector(i.e., ethyl xanthate) for non-ferrous metallic ore flotation was evaluated. The results show that the two stages of domestication can improve microbial degradation ability. The BAC reactor obtains a chemical oxygen demand(COD) reduction rate of 82.5% for ethyl xanthate and its effluent COD concentration lowers to below 20 mg/L. The kinetics equation of the BAC reactor proves that the activated carbon layers at the height of 0 mm to 70 mm play a key role in the removal of flotation reagents. Ultraviolet spectral analysis indicates that most of the ethyl xanthate are degraded by microorganisms after advanced treatment by the BAC reactor.

Bacterial Community and Function of Biological Activated Carbon Filter in Drinking Water Treatment

Objective It aims to investigate the changes in composition and structure of bacterial communities de-veloping on biological activated carbon （BAC） particles, and the bacterial functions. Method A pilot plant had been in service for 180 days, aiming to develop bacterial communities on acti-vated carbon naturally. After 180 days of operation, the bacterial communities were determined by dena-turing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） analyses of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes. The study on community composition and the phylogenetic relationships of the organisms was complemented by a se-quence analysis of cloned PCR products from 16S rRNA genes. Gas chromatorgaphy-mass （GC-MS） mea-surement was used to determine organic chemical composition of inflow and outflow water on the 300th day. TOC and NH 4 ＋ -N were also tested in this experiment. Results It showed that the stable bacterial structure did not develop on BAC particles until the 9th month during running time of the BAC filter. The communities were finally dominated by Pseudomonas sp., Ba-cillus sp., Nitrospira sp., and an uncultured bacterium. Stable bacterial communities played an important role in removal of NH 4 ＋ -N and total organic carbon （TOC）. Results from gas chromatorgaphy-mass （GC-MS） showed that 36 kinds of chemicals in feed water were eliminated, and concentrations of 5 kinds of chemicals decreased. These chemicals served as nutrients for the dominant bacteria. Conclusion The findings from the study suggested that the stability of microbial structure was beneficial for improving NH 4 ＋ -N and TOC removal efficiencies. The dominant bacteria had the advantage of biode-grading a wide range of organic chemicals and NH 4 ＋ -N.

Invertebrate community characteristics in biologically active carbon filter

Biologically active carbon （BAC） system was set up in a water plant of South China during January to December 2007,to study the invertebrate community characteristics of BAC filter.Thirty-seven invertebrate species were found,of which 28 belonging to rotifers.Filter operation could lead to an output of invertebrates in high abundances with the filtrate,and the maximum density could reach 5608 individuals/m 3.Average abundances in the effluent water increased in 27-33 folds in comparison to the influent water during the sampling period.Invertebrate community succession had the following trend：filter-feeding animals → small benthic invertebrates → large benthic and resistant invertebrates.Abundances of large-sized invertebrates （copepod adult and oligochaete） at bigger-media column were significantly higher than that at small-media column.The results implied the abundant species diversity of invertebrate in BAC filter.The relationship between invertebrate and biofilm still remain to be studied in detail.

Effect of a biological activated carbon filter on particle counts

Due to the importance of biological safety in drinking water quality and the disadvantages which exist in traditional methods of detecting typical microorganisms such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia, it is necessary to develop an alternative. Particle counts is a qualitative measurement of the amount of dissolved solids in water. The removal rate of particle counts was previously used as an indicator of the effectiveness of a biological activated carbon (BAC) filter in removing Cryptosporidium and Giardia. The particle counts in a BAC filter effluent over one operational period and the effects of BAC filter construction and operational parameters were investigated with a 10 m3/h pilot plant. The results indicated that the maximum particle count in backwash remnant water was as high as 1296 count/ml and it needed about 1.5 h to reduce from the maximum to less than 50 count/ml. During the standard filtration period, particle counts stay constant at less than 50 count/ml for 5 d except when influ- enced by sand filter backwash remnant water. The removal rates of particle counts in the BAC filter are related to characteristics of the carbon. For example, a columned carbon and a sand bed removed 33.3% and 8.5% of particles, respectively, while the particle counts in effluent from a cracked BAC filter was higher than that of the influent. There is no significant difference among particle removal rates with different filtration rates. High post-ozone dosage (>2 mg/L) plays an important role in particle count removal; when the dosage was 3 mg/L, the removal rates by carbon layers and sand beds decreased by 17.5% and increased by 9.5%, respectively, compared with a 2 mg/L dosage.

Removal of disinfection by-products formation potential by biologically intensified process

The removal of disinfection by-products formation potential(DBPFP) in artificially intensified biological activated carbon(IBAC) process which is developed on the basis of traditional ozone granular activated carbon was evaluated. By IBAC removals of 31% and 68% for THMFP and HAAFP were obtained respectively. Under identical conditions, the removals of the same substances were 4% and 32% respectively only by the granular activated carbon(GAC) process. Compared with GAC, the high removal rates of the two formed potential substances were due to the increasing of bioactivity of the media and the synergistic capabilities of biological degradation cooperating with activated carbon adsorption of organic compounds. A clear linear correlation(R 2=0.9562 and R 2=0.9007) between DOC HAAFP removal rate and Empty Bed Contact Time(EBCT) of IBAC process was observed, while that between THMFP removal rate and EBCT of GAC was R 2=0.9782. In addition certain linear correlations between THMFP, HAAFP and UV 254 (R 2=0.855 and R 2=0.7702) were found for the treated water. For IBAC process there are also more advantages such as long backwashing cycle time, low backwashing intensity and prolonging activated carbon lifetime and so on.

Study on Treatment of the Pesticide Wastewater by the Composite Process of Biological Active Carbon Filter-Fluid Bed

[ Objectlve] The research aimed to study treatment effect of the pesticide wastewater by the composite process of biological active car- bon filter-fluid bed. [Method] The composite process of biological active carbon filter- fluid bed was applied to treat the mixed pesticide wastewater. The removal efficiencies of CODcr, BODs, NH3-N, SS and the influence factors were investigated. [ Result] The composite process had good treatment efficiency for pesticide wastewater. After running stably, the average removal rates of CODc,, BODs, NH3-N and SS were re- spectively 91.6%, 96.2%, 90.2% and 87.5%. All indices reached the third level cdteda specified in Comprehensive Standard of the Sewage Dis- charge （DB12/356-2008）. [ Conclusionl The whole system operates reliably and simply, and provides a stable, convenient and economical solu- tion for deep treatment of the mixed pesticide wastewater.

Removal of disinfection by-product formation potentials by biologically assisted GAC treatment

The object of this paper is to evaluate the removal of disinfection by-products formation potential by artificially intensified biological activated carbon（BAC） process which is developed on the basis of traditional ozone granular activated carbon （GAC）. The results show that 23.1% of trihalomethane formation potential （THMFP） and 68% of haloacetic acid formation potential （HAAFP） can be removed by BAC, respectively. Under the same conditions, the removal rates of the same substances were 12.2% and 13-25% respectively only by GAC process. Compared with GAC, the high removal rates of the two formed potential substances were due to the increasing of bioactivity of the media and the synergistic capabilities of biological degradation cooperating with activated carbon adsorption of organic compounds. BAC process has some advantages such as long backwashing cycle time, low backwashing intensity and prolonged activated carbon lifetime, etc.

Model Identification of Water Purification Systems Using RBF Neural Network

Aim The RFB (radial hats function) netal network was studied for the model indentificaiton of an ozonation/BAC system. Methods The optimal ozone's dosage and the remain time in carbon tower were analyzed to build the neural network model by which the expected outflow CODM can be acquired under the inflow CODM condition. Results The improved self-organized learning algorithm can assign the centers into appropriate places , and the RBF network's outputs at the sample points fit the experimental data very well. Conclusion The model of ozonation /BAC system based on the RBF network am describe the relationshipamong various factors correctly, a new prouding approach tO the wate purification process is provided.

Removal of anaerobic soluble microbial products in a biological activated carbon reactor

The soluble microbial products （SMP） in the biological treatment effluent are generally of great amount and are poorly biodegradable. Focusing on the biodegradation of anaerobic SMP, the biological activated carbon （BAC） was introduced into the anaerobic system. The experiments were conducted in two identical lab-scale up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket （UASB） reactors. The high strength organics were degraded in the first UASB reactor （UASB1） and the second UASB （UASB2, i.e., BAC） functioned as a polishing step to remove SMP produced in UASB1. The results showed that 90% of the SMP could be removed before granular activated carbon was saturated. After the saturation, the SMP removal decreased to 60% on the average. Analysis of granular activated carbon adsorption revealed that the main role of SMP removal in BAC reactor was biodegradation. A strain of SMP-degrading bacteria, which was found highly similar to Klebsiella sp., was isolated, enriched and inoculated back to the BAC reactor. When the influent chemical oxygen demand （COD） was 10,000 mg/L and the organic loading rate achieved 10 kg COD/（m 3 ·day）, the effluent from the BAC reactor could meet the discharge standard without further treatment. Anaerobic BAC reactor inoculated with the isolated Klebsiella was proved to be an effective, cheap and easy technical treatment approach for the removal of SMP in the treatment of easily-degradable wastewater with COD lower than 10,000 mg/L.

Nitrification and denitrification in biological activated carbon filter for treating high ammonia source water

Since the ammonia in the effluent of the tradi-tional water purification process could not meet the supply demand,the advanced treatment of a high concentration of NH4+-N micro-polluted source water by biological activated carbon filter(BACF)was tested.The filter was operated in the downflow manner and the results showed that the remov-ing rate of NH_(4)^(+)-N was related to the influent concentration of NH_(4)^(+)-N.Its removing rate could be higher than 95%when influent concentration was under 1.0 mg/L.It could also decrease with the increasing influent concentration when the NH_(4)^(+)-N concentration was in the range from 1.5 to 4.9 mg/L and the dissolved oxygen(DO)in the influent was under 10 mg/L,and the minimum removing rate could be 30%.The key factor of restricting nitrification in BACF was the influent DO.When the influent NH_(4)^(+)-N concentration was high,the DO in water was almost depleted entirely by the nitrifying and hetetrophic bacteria in the depth of 0.4 m filter and the filter layer was divided into aerobic and anoxic zones.The nitrification and degradation of organic matters existed in the aerobic zone,while the denitrification occurred in the anoxic zone.Due to the limited carbon source,the denitrifica-tion could not be carried out properly,which led to the accu-mulation of the denitrification intermediates such as NO_(2)^(−).In addition to the denitrification bacteria,the nitrification and the heterotrophic bacteria existed in the anoxic zone.

Effect of ozone on the performance of a hybrid ceramic membrane-biological activated carbon process

Two hybrid processes including ozonation-ceramic membrane-biological activated carbon （BAC） （Process A） and ceramic membrane-BAC （Process B） were compared to treat polluted raw water. The performance of hybrid processes was evaluated with the removal efficiencies of turbidity, ammonia and organic matter. The results indicated that more than 99% of particle count was removed by both hybrid processes and ozonation had no significant effect on its removal. BAC filtration greatly improved the removal of ammonia. Increasing the dissolved oxygen to 30.0 mg/L could lead to a removal of ammonia with concentrations as high as 7.80 mg/L and 8.69 mg/L for Processes A and B, respectively. The average removal efficiencies of total organic carbon and ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm （UV254, a parameter indicating organic matter with aromatic structure） were 49% and 52% for Process A, 51% and 48% for Process B, respectively. Some organic matter was oxidized by ozone and this resulted in reduced membrane fouling and increased membrane flux by 25%-30%. However, pre-ozonation altered the components of the raw water and affected the microorganisms in the BAC, which may impact the removals of organic matter and nitrite negatively.

Evaluate HAA removal in biologically active carbon filters using the ICR database

The effects of biologically active carbon(BAC)filtration on haloacetic acid(HAA)levels in plant effluents and distribution systems were investigated using the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Information Collection Rule(ICR)database.The results showed that average HAA5 concentrations in all locations were 20.4μg·L^(-1)and 29.6μg·L^(-1)in ICR plants with granular activated carbon(GAC)and ICR plants without GAC process,respectively.For plants without GAC,the highest HAA levels were observed in the quarters of April to June and July to September.However,for plants with GAC,the highest HAA levels were observed in the quarters of April to June and January to March.This HAA level profile inversely correlated well with water temperature,or biologic activity.For GAC plants,simulated distribution samples matched well with distribution system equivalent samples for Cl3AA and THMs.For plants with and without GAC,simulated distribution samples overestimated readily biodegradable HAAs in distribution systems.The study indicated that through HAA biodegradation,GAC process plays an important role in lowering HAA levels in finished drinking water.

Development of pretreatment protocol for DNA extraction from biofilm attached to biologic activated carbon(BAC)granules

The biologic activated carbon(BAC)process is widely used in drinking water treatments.A comprehensive molecular analysis of the microbial community structure provides very helpful data to improve the reactor performance.However,the bottleneck of deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA)extraction from BAC attached biofilm has to be solved since the conventional procedure was unsuccessful due to firm biomass attachment and adsorption capacity of the BAC granules.In this study,five pretreatments were compared,and adding skim milk followed by ultrasonic vibration was proven to be the optimal choice.This protocol was further tested using the vertical BAC samples from the full-scale biofilter of Pinghu Water Plant.The results showed the DNAyielded a range of 40μg·g^(-1) BAC(dry weight)to over 100μg·g^(-1) BAC(dry weight),which were consistent with the biomass distribution.All results suggested that the final protocol could produce qualified genomic DNA as a template from the BAC filter for downstream molecular biology researches.

Performance of BAC process for treatment of micro-polluted water

Biological activated carbon (BAC) has been developed on the granular activated carbon by immobilization of selected and acclimated species of bacteria to treat the micro-polluted water. The BAC removal efficiencies for nitrobenzene, permanganate index, turbidity and ammonia were investigated. Effects of shock loading and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) observation on BAC were studied. Backwashing and its intensity of BAC were also discussed. The results showed that BAC took short time to start up and recover to the normal condition after shock loading. The shock loading studies showed that the removal efficiency of BAC was not completely inhibited even at high concentration of nitrobenzene. Backwashing performed once every 10-20 d, or an average of 15 d. Backwashing intensity was 12-14 L/(s·m2) with air and 3-4 L/(s·m2) with water.

A review on treatment of disinfection byproduct precursors by biological activated carbon process

Disinfection by-products(DBPs)in water systems have attracted increasing attention due to their toxic effects.Removal of precursors(mainly natural organic matter(NOM))prior to the disinfection process has been recognized as the ideal strategy to control the DBP levels.Currently,biological activated carbon(BAC)process is a highly recommended and prevalent process for treatment of DBP precursors in advanced water treatment.This paper first introduces the fundamental knowledge of BAC process,including the history,basic principles,typical process flow,and basic operational parameters.Then,the selection of BAC process for treatment of DBP precursors is explained in detail based on the comparative analysis of dominant water treatment technologies from the aspects of mechanisms for NOM removal as well as the treatability of different groups of DBP precursors.Next,a thorough overview is presented to summarize the recent developments and breakthroughs in the removal of DBP precursors using BAC process,and the contents involved include effect of pre-BAC ozonation,removal performance of various DBP precursors,toxicity risk reduction,fractional analysis of NOM,effect of empty bed contact time(EBCT)and engineered biofiltration.Finally,some recommendations are made to strengthen current research and address the knowledge gaps,including the issues of microbial mechanisms,toxicity evaluation,degradation kinetics and microbial products.

Study on enhanced filtration for the 2-methylisoborneol removal in drinking water treatment processes

Pilot plant studies on 2-methylisoborneol(2-MIB)removal in drinking water by biological activated carbon-sand filter(BACSF)were conducted in this paper.The biological activated carbon was chosen from a BAC filter of an advanced treatment plant which has operated for 1 year.The results showed that the BACSF worked effectively when high concentrations of MIB in raw water especially in summer season.Most of the MIB was removed within 450 mm of the top packed media and the removal rate was 75.24%.The biomass on the surface of activated carbon increased to 103 nmolP/g carbon in August.In addition to MIB,turbidity,UV254 and DOC consumption value are also effectively removed by BACSF.The micro flocculation in combination with BACSF enhanced filtration test provided the evidence that the micro-flocculation made the contaminant in water forming the colloidal matter and it improved the BACSF removal ability of MIB.The optimum PACl dosage was 0.2 mg/L and the PACl contact time was 2-4 min.

Novel FGBAC reactor for controlling the leakage of microfauna in drinking water treatment

In order to reduce the microfauna leakage risk from a granular biological activated carbon （GBAC） reactor which employs granular activated carbon （GAC） as adsorption media in drinking water advanced treatment, a novel fiber and granular biological activated carbon （FGBAC） reactor which employs both GAC and activated carbon fiber （ACF） as adsorption media, was developed. The results showed that the species composition of microfauna leaking from FGBAC reactor is almost similar to that leaking from GBAC reactor, however the densities of microfauna leaking from FGBAC reactor is reduced by 26%-81% compared to those leaking from GBAC reactor. In addition, compared to GBAC reactor, FGBAC reactor can increase the removal efflciencies of chemical oxygen demand （COD） and turbidity by 7% and 10%, respectively, during the stable operation period of reactor.

Study on the treatment of eutrophic water with a new integrative apparatus for water purification

This paper studied the treatment of the landscape river in ChangZhou Scientific and Educational Town by a new integrative apparatus for water purification, which used ozone pre-oxidation-moDified clay-ozone biological activated carbon integrated process. The results indicate that the effectiveness of the algal removal with mentioned integrated process is much higher and the apparatus can operate stably. When the turbidity, chemical oxygen demand （CODMn）, total nitrogen （TN）, total phosphorus （TP） and algae densities of the raw water are 29-38 NTU, 7.45-7.79 mg/L, 2.496-2.981 mag/L, 0.237-0.255 mg/L and 5.78-7.94×10^8 cells/L respectively, it can be reduced to 0.8-1.7 NTU, 1.69-2.84 rag/L, 0.579-0.692mg/L, 0.013-0.038 mg/L, 0.06-0.38×10^8 cells/L. The average removal rates of turbidity, CODMn, TN, TP and algae density can reach 96.4%, 71.5%, 76.8%, 92.0% and 96.9% respectively. The treated water can meet the requirements of class Ⅰ- Ⅱ in Environmental Quality Standard, for Surface Water.