Start-Up of a Biofilter in a Full-Scale Groundwater Treatment Plant for Iron and Manganese Removal.

Huiping Zeng,Jie Zhang,Can Yin,Dong Li

doi:10.3390/ijerph16050698

Abstract

In recent years, biological purification technology has been widely developed in the process of iron and manganese removal from groundwater. The cultivation and maturation of the biological filter layer are key for biological iron and manganese removal processes. The time needed for maturation varies significantly with the water quality, filter and filter media conditions and operation parameters; sometimes it takes only one or two months, sometime more than half a year. In this paper, the feasibility of adopting an intermittent operation for the cultivation of biofilter was investigated with productive filters in a groundwater treatment plant, and the comparative test of the filter column was conducted. The results showed that the intermittent operation had little effect on the cultivation of the biofilter because dissolved oxygen would be gradually exhausted during the filter-suspension process, making the filter layer anaerobic, thus possibly inhibiting the growth and reproduction of IMOB (Iron and Manganese Oxidizing Bacteria). At the same time, the test shows that when the mature biological filter needs the suspension operation, the emptying method should be considered to avoid the destruction of the biological layer.

Highlights

Groundwater usually contains iron and manganese in Northeast China, above the allowed maximum concentration levels 0.3 mg/L and 0.1 mg/L for iron and manganese, respectively, according to the Chinese Standards for Drinking Water Quality [1]
Chemical oxidation is usually adopted by traditional water treatment plants [4,5,6,7], including oxidation with atmospheric oxygen assisted by aeration and oxidation by chemical agents such as potassium permanganate, chlorine, chlorine dioxide and ozone
This paper provides a specific example of the start-up of biological groundwater treatment removal for iron and manganese removal

Summary

Introduction

Groundwater usually contains iron and manganese in Northeast China, above the allowed maximum concentration levels 0.3 mg/L and 0.1 mg/L for iron and manganese, respectively, according to the Chinese Standards for Drinking Water Quality [1]. Manganese could form sediments in drinking water distribution lines and incidents of “black” or “brown” water have occurred with the fluctuation of the water supply. Chemical oxidation is usually adopted by traditional water treatment plants [4,5,6,7], including oxidation with atmospheric oxygen assisted by aeration and oxidation by chemical agents such as potassium permanganate, chlorine, chlorine dioxide and ozone. Fe (II) can be oxidized by oxygen at natural pH while the condition of manganese oxidation is stringent

Methods

Results

Conclusion