Environmental Science and Pollution Research

, Volume 20, Issue 4, pp 2236–2243 | Cite as

Simultaneous removal of nitrate and pentachlorophenol from simulated groundwater using a biodenitrification reactor packed with corncob

Research Article
First Online:
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Accepted:

Abstract

Both nitrate and pentachlorophenol (PCP) are familiar pollutants in aqueous environment. This research is focused on the simultaneous removal of nitrate and PCP from simulated contaminated groundwater using a laboratory-scale denitrification reactor packed with corncob as both carbon source and biofilm support. The reactor could be started up readily, and the removal efficiencies of nitrate and PCP reached up to approximately 98 % and 40–45 % when their initial concentrations were 50 mg N/L and 5 mg/L, respectively, after 15-day continuous operation at 10 h of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and 25 °C. Approximately 91 % of PCP removal efficiency was achieved, with 2.47 mg/L of chloride ion release at 24 h of HRT. Eighty-two percent of chlorine in PCP removed was ionized. The productions of 3-chlorophenol and phenol and chloride ion release indicate that the reductive dechlorination reaction is a major degradation pathway of PCP under the experimental conditions.

Keywords

Nitrate Pentachlorophenol Groundwater Corncob Denitrification Carbon source 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21077014), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 20070420357), and the Special Funds for Creative Team Building of Modern Agricultural Technical System of Beijing for their financial support.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  • Xuming Wang
    • 1
  • Lijun Xing
    • 1
  • Tianlei Qiu
    • 1
  • Meilin Han
    • 1
  1. 1.Beijing Agro-Biotechnology Research CenterBeijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry SciencesBeijingChina

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