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Comparison of the MBBR denitrification carriers for advanced nitrogen removal of wastewater treatment plant effluent

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Abstract

The moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs) were used to remove the residual NO3 −-N of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, and the MBBR carriers for denitrification were compared. The results showed that high denitrification efficiency can be achieved with polyethylene, polypropylene, polyurethane foam, and haydite carriers under following conditions: 7.2 to 8.0 pH, 24 to 26 °C temperature, 12 h hydraulic retention time (HRT), and 25.5 mg L−1 external methanol dosage, while the WWTP effluent total nitrogen (TN) was between 2.6 and 15.4 mg L−1 and NO3 −-N was between 0.2 and 12.6 mg L−1. The MBBR filled with polyethylene carriers had higher TN and NO3 −-N removal rate (44.9 ± 19.1 and 83.4 ± 13.0 %, respectively) than those with other carriers. The minimum effluent TN and NO3 −-N of polyethylene MBBR were 1.6 and 0.1 mg L−1, respectively, and the maximum denitrification rate reached 23.0 g m−2 day−1. When chemical oxygen demand (COD)/TN ratio dropped from 6 to 4, the NO3 −- N and TN removal efficiency decreased significantly in all reactors except for that filled with polyethylene, which indicated that the polyethylene MBBR can resist influent fluctuation much better. The three-dimensional excitation–emission matrix analysis showed that all the influent and effluent of MBBRs contain soluble microbial products (SMPs)-like organics and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), which can be removed better by MBBRs filled with haydite and polyethylene carriers. The nitrous oxide reductase (nosZ)-based terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis suggested that the dominant bacteria in polyethylene MBBR are the key denitrificans.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (2014ZX07216-001). The authors also appreciate support from the Research Center for Water Pollution Control Technology at Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences and China Scholarship Council Foundation (2011911098).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, No. 8 Da Yang Fang, Anwai, Chaoyang District, 100012, Beijing, China

    Quan Yuan, Haiyan Wang, Qianyu Hang, Kai Liu, Chunmei Li & Shengzhi Zheng

  2. Research Center for Water Pollution Control Technology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, No. 8 Da Yang Fang, Anwai, Chaoyang District, 100012, Beijing, China

    Quan Yuan, Haiyan Wang, Qianyu Hang, Kai Liu, Chunmei Li & Shengzhi Zheng

  3. Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effect in Arid Region of Ministry of Education, Chang’an University, Xi’ an, 710064, Shanxi, China

    Yangfan Deng

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  1. Quan Yuan
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  2. Haiyan Wang
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  3. Qianyu Hang
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  4. Yangfan Deng
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  5. Kai Liu
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Correspondence to Haiyan Wang.

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Yuan, Q., Wang, H., Hang, Q. et al. Comparison of the MBBR denitrification carriers for advanced nitrogen removal of wastewater treatment plant effluent. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 13970–13979 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4546-z

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