Granular Activated Carbon Biofilm Research Articles

Enhancing the resistance to H2S toxicity during anaerobic digestion of low-strength wastewater through granular activated carbon (GAC) addition

Low-strength wastewater was treated using two laboratory-scale up-flow anaerobic sludge blankets (UASB) for 130 days under sulfate-reducing conditions. Granular activated carbon (GAC) was added to one of the reactors. The GAC addition increased the total chemical oxygen demand removal by 21–28% and total methane production by 32–78%. The sludge from the GAC-amended UASB showed higher specific methanogenic activities (SMA) and higher activities in the presence of H2S, indicating that the GAC addition enhanced the resistance of methanogens to H2S toxicity. Further, the microbial communities showed that the GAC addition shifted microbial communities. A robust syntrophic partnership between bacteria (i.e., Bacteroidetes_vadinHA17 and Trichococcus) and methanogens was established in the GAC-amended UASB. Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) were enriched in the GAC biofilm, indicating the coexistence of competition and cooperation between SRB and methanogens. These findings provide significant insights regarding microbial community dynamics, especially SRB and methanogens, in a GAC-amended anaerobic digestion process under sulfate-reducing conditions.

Activities and metabolic versatility of distinct anammox bacteria in a full-scale wastewater treatment system

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is a key N2-producing process in the global nitrogen cycle. Major progress in understanding the core mechanism of anammox bacteria has been made, but our knowledge of the survival strategies of anammox bacteria in complex ecosystems, such as full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), remains limited. Here, by combining metagenomics with in situ metatranscriptomics, complex anammox-driven nitrogen cycles in an anoxic tank and a granular activated carbon (GAC) biofilm module of a full-scale WWTP treating landfill leachate were constructed. Four distinct anammox metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), representing a new genus named Ca. Loosdrechtii, a new species in Ca. Kuenenia, a new species in Ca. Brocadia, and a new strain in “Ca. Kuenenia stuttgartiensis”, were simultaneously retrieved from the GAC biofilm. Metabolic reconstruction revealed that all anammox organisms highly expressed the core metabolic enzymes and showed a high metabolic versatility. Pathways for dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) coupled to volatile fatty acids (VFAs) oxidation likely assist anammox bacteria to survive unfavorable conditions and facilitate switches between lifestyles in oxygen fluctuating environments. The new Ca. Kuenenia species dominated the anammox community of the GAC biofilm, specifically may be enhanced by the uniquely encoded flexible ammonium and iron acquisition strategies. The new Ca. Brocadia species likely has an extensive niche distribution that is simultaneously established in the anoxic tank and the GAC biofilm, the two distinct niches. The highly diverse and impressive metabolic versatility of anammox bacteria revealed in this study advance our understanding of the survival and application of anammox bacteria in the full-scale wastewater treatment system.

Composite biologically active filter (BAF) with zeolite, granular activated carbon, and suspended biological carrier for treating algae-laden raw water

In this study, a composite biologically active filter (BAF) packed with suspended biological carrier (SBC), zeolite, and granular activated carbon (GAC) in order, was set to pretreat the algae-laden synthetic raw water. Over the long-term operation, stable and effective treatment was achieved under the algae concentration as high as 16.64 × 108 cell/L, with average removal efficiencies of NH4+-N, Total Organic Carbon (TOC), and algae cells of 97.7%, 64.0%, and 78.6%, respectively. The pollutant removal of each filter were quantitatively assessed. The results revealed zeolite mainly contributed to the adsorption of NH4+-N (50.1%), GAC enriched the most functional microorganisms and contributed to nitrification (57.1%) and organics biodegradation (TOC: 63.9%, microcystin-LR (MC-LR): 96.8%). The addition of SBC filter enhanced the chemical and microbial removal ability of the BAF system. The structure and distribution of biofilm on each filter were different, GAC biofilm accumulated the most MCs degrading microbes, and the highest microbial community richness and diversity was observed in SBC biofilm. Overall, the composite BAF with zeolite-GAC-SBC is developed for algae-laden raw water pretreatment, enabling the application of BAF in drinking water pretreatment plants.

Biodegradation and adsorption of micropollutants by biological activated carbon from a drinking water production plant

The presence of micropollutants in surface water is a potential threat for the production of high quality and safe drinking water. Adsorption of micropollutants onto granular activated carbon (GAC) in fixed-bed filters is often applied as a polishing step in the production of drinking water. Activated carbon can act as a carrier material for biofilm, hence biodegradation can be an additional removal mechanism for micropollutants in GAC filters. To assess the potential of biofilm to biodegrade micropollutants, it is necessary to distinguish adsorption from biodegradation as a removal mechanism. We performed experiments at 5 °C and 20 °C with biologically active and autoclaved GAC to assess the biodegradation of micropollutants by the biofilm grown on the GAC surface. Ten micropollutants were selected as model compounds. Three of them, iopromide, iopamidol and metformin, were biodegraded by the GAC biofilm. Additionally, we observed that temperature can increase or decrease adsorption, depending on the micropollutant studied. Finally, we compared the adsorption capacity of GAC used for more than 100,000 bed volumes and fresh GAC. We demonstrated that used GAC shows a higher adsorption capacity for guanylurea, metformin and hexamethylenetetramine and only a limited reduction in adsorption capacity for diclofenac and benzotriazole compared to fresh GAC.

Using upstream oxidants to minimize surface biofouling and improve hydraulic performance in GAC biofilters

The combination of biological growth and particle loading can adversely affect hydraulic performance in drinking water biofilters. In this study, upstream oxidant addition was used to distribute biologically-derived filter clogging in granular activated carbon (GAC) biofilters. Oxidant penetration was assessed during pilot-scale operation and backwashing of dual media (GAC/sand) and multimedia (GAC/anthracite/sand) biofilters. Influent chlorine (HOCl), monochloramine (NH2Cl), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) residuals were optimized to react with the GAC surface in the upper portion of the filter media bed (depth < 0.5 m) to attenuate biomass development. As the oxidant residual was quenched by surface-mediated reaction with the filter media, biomass growth was promoted deeper in the filter bed (depth > 0.5 m). The oxidant-induced effects on biomass and hydraulic performance were monitored through measurements of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and head loss accumulation at different media depths. Addition of oxidants (e.g., 0.6 mg Cl2/L HOCl) could decrease terminal head loss by 20% in dual media filters and 40% in multimedia filters. These hydraulic benefits were achieved without significantly affecting removal of assimilable organic carbon (AOC), total organic carbon (TOC), turbidity, and particle counts. Oxidant type, residual concentration, media type, media age, and media depth influenced the passage of oxidant residuals and distribution of filter biomass. When oxidants were added during backwashing, oxidant residual was quenched through the bed depth from a combination of reactions with GAC media and biofilm degradation. This attenuation of residual oxidant may prevent the oxidant residual from penetrating the entire bed depth, potentially compromising backwashing objectives.

Enhancing Biochemical Methane Potential and Enrichment of Specific Electroactive Communities from Nixtamalization Wastewater using Granular Activated Carbon as a Conductive Material

Nejayote (corn step liquor) production in Mexico is approximately 1.4 × 1010 m3 per year and anaerobic digestion is an effective process to transform this waste into green energy. The biochemical methane potential (BMP) test is one of the most important tests for evaluating the biodegradability and methane production capacity of any organic waste. Previous research confirms that the addition of conductive materials significantly enhances the methane production yield. This study concludes that the addition of granular activated carbon (GAC) increases methane yield by 34% in the first instance. Furthermore, results show that methane production is increased by 54% when a GAC biofilm is developed 10 days before undertaking the BMP test. In addition, the electroactive population was 30% higher when attached to the GAC than in control reactors. Moreover, results show that electroactive communities attached to the GAC increased by 38% when a GAC biofilm is developed 10 days before undertaking the BMP test, additionally only in these reactors Geobacter was identified. GAC has two main effects in anaerobic digestion; it promotes direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) by developing an electro-active biofilm and simultaneously it reduces redox potential from −223 mV to −470 mV. These results suggest that the addition of GAC to biodigesters, improves the anaerobic digestion performance in industrial processed food waste.

Characterization of bacterial community dynamics in a full-scale drinking water treatment plant

Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of microbial communities in drinking water systems is vital to securing the microbial safety of drinking water. The objective of this study was to comprehensively characterize the dynamics of microbial biomass and bacterial communities at each step of a full-scale drinking water treatment plant in Beijing, China. Both bulk water and biofilm samples on granular activated carbon (GAC) were collected over 9months. The proportion of cultivable cells decreased during the treatment processes, and this proportion was higher in warm season than cool season, suggesting that treatment processes and water temperature probably had considerable impact on the R2A cultivability of total bacteria. 16s rRNA gene based 454 pyrosequencing analysis of the bacterial community revealed that Proteobacteria predominated in all samples. The GAC biofilm harbored a distinct population with a much higher relative abundance of Acidobacteria than water samples. Principle coordinate analysis and one-way analysis of similarity indicated that the dynamics of the microbial communities in bulk water and biofilm samples were better explained by the treatment processes rather than by sampling time, and distinctive changes of the microbial communities in water occurred after GAC filtration. Furthermore, 20 distinct OTUs contributing most to the dissimilarity among samples of different sampling locations and 6 persistent OTUs present in the entire treatment process flow were identified. Overall, our findings demonstrate the significant effects that treatment processes have on the microbial biomass and community fluctuation and provide implications for further targeted investigation on particular bacteria populations.

Next-generation pyrosequencing analysis of microbial biofilm communities on granular activated carbon in treatment of oil sands process-affected water.

The development of biodegradation treatment processes for oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) has been progressing in recent years with the promising potential of biofilm reactors. Previously, the granular activated carbon (GAC) biofilm process was successfully employed for treatment of a large variety of recalcitrant organic compounds in domestic and industrial wastewaters. In this study, GAC biofilm microbial development and degradation efficiency were investigated for OSPW treatment by monitoring the biofilm growth on the GAC surface in raw and ozonated OSPW in batch bioreactors. The GAC biofilm community was characterized using a next-generation 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing technique that revealed that the phylum Proteobacteria was dominant in both OSPW and biofilms, with further in-depth analysis showing higher abundances of Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria sequences. Interestingly, many known polyaromatic hydrocarbon degraders, namely, Burkholderiales, Pseudomonadales, Bdellovibrionales, and Sphingomonadales, were observed in the GAC biofilm. Ozonation decreased the microbial diversity in planktonic OSPW but increased the microbial diversity in the GAC biofilms. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed similar bacterial gene copy numbers (>10(9) gene copies/g of GAC) for both raw and ozonated OSPW GAC biofilms. The observed rates of removal of naphthenic acids (NAs) over the 2-day experiments for the GAC biofilm treatments of raw and ozonated OSPW were 31% and 66%, respectively. Overall, a relatively low ozone dose (30 mg of O3/liter utilized) combined with GAC biofilm treatment significantly increased NA removal rates. The treatment of OSPW in bioreactors using GAC biofilms is a promising technology for the reduction of recalcitrant OSPW organic compounds.

Bacterial community in the biofilm of granular activated carbon (GAC) PreBiofilter in bench-scale pilot plants for surface water pretreatment.

Biofilters of granular activated carbon (GAC) are responsible for the removal of organic matters in drinking water treatments. PreBiofilters, which operate as the first unit in a surface water treatment train, are a cost-effective pretreatment for conventional surface water treatment and provide more consistent downstream water quality. This study investigated bacterial communities from the samples of raw surface water, biofilm on the PreBiofilter, and filtrates for surface water pretreatment. A bench-scale pilot plant of PreBiofilter was constructed to pretreat surface water from the Canoochee River, GA, USA. PreBiofilter exhibited a significant reduction of total organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon. The evenness and Shannon diversity of bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were significantly higher on the biofilm of PreBiofilter than in raw water and filtrates. Similar bacteria communities were observed in the raw water and filtrates using relative abundance of bacterial OTUs. However, the bacterial communities in the filtrates became relatively similar to those in the biofilm using presence/absence of bacterial OTUs. GAC biofilm or raw water and filtrates greatly contributed to the abundance of bacteria; whereas, bacteria sheared from colonized biofilm and entered filtrates. Evenly distributed, diverse and unique bacteria in the biofilm played an important role to remove organic matters from surface water for conventional surface water pretreatment.

Performance and Kinetic Study on Bioremediation of Diazo Dye (Reactive Black 5) in Wastewater Using Spent GAC–Biofilm Sequencing Batch Reactor

Combinations of sequential anaerobic and aerobic process enhance the treatment of textile wastewater. The aim of this study was to investigate the treatment of diazo dye Reactive Black 5 (RB5)-containing wastewater using granular activated carbon (GAC)–biofilm sequencing batch reactor (SBR) as an integration of aerobic and anaerobic process in a single reactor. The GAC–biofilm SBR system demonstrated higher removal of COD, RB5 and aromatic amines. It was observed that the RB5 removal efficiency improved as the concentration of co-substrate in the influent increased. The alternative aeration introduced into the bioreactor enhanced mineralization of aromatic amines. Degradation of RB5 and co-substrate followed second-order kinetic and the constant (k2) values for COD and RB5 decreased from 0.002 to 0.001 and 0.004 to 0.001 l/mg h, respectively, as the RB5 concentration increased from 100 to 200 mg/l in the GAC–biofilm SBR system.

A GAC biofilm reactor for the continuous degradation of 4-chlorophenol: treatment efficiency and microbial analysis.

Using a continuous enrichment technique, a bacterial consortium capable of degrading 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) was obtained from the rhizosphere of Phragmites australis. A granular activated carbon (GAC) biofilm reactor was established using this consortium, and the degradation of 4-CP was investigated under continuous flow operation using a feed of 20-50 mg l(-1) with a hydraulic residence time of 17 min over a 6-month period. Chloride liberation occurred throughout the operation, and the reactor had 4-CP removal efficiencies of 69-100%. Periods of lower performance were attributed to clogging of the column with biomass and the formation of channels. Subsequently, the immobilized biofilm was subjected to a starvation period of 5 months, after which its degradative capacity was still maintained. The microbial consortium was characterized during the continuous flow experiment and dynamic population changes were observed throughout. One isolate recovered from the biofilm was shown to be capable of degrading 4-CP as a sole carbon and energy source.