Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor Process Research Articles

Life Cycle Assessment of a Water Treatment Plant based on Non-Conventional Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor Process

Life Cycle Assessment of a Water Treatment Plant based on Non-Conventional Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor Process

Removal of toxic metal Cd (II) by Serratia bozhouensis CdIW2 using in moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR)

The use of bioreactor technology to treat industrial wastewater containing heavy metals has created new perspectives. Cadmium metal is one of the toxic heavy metals that have harmful effects on human health and the environment. This research work presents a comprehensive approach for aqueous cadmium removal through biosorption in a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR). The bacterium resistant to Cd(II) (350 mg/L) CdIW2 was selected among 8 cadmium tolerant bacteria isolated from the industrial wastewater of the metal industry. 16S rRNA gene and phenotypic analysis showed that the bacterium CdIW2 is similar to Serratia bozhouensis. The highest biosorption capacity of 65.79 mg/g was acquired in optimal conditions (30 min, pH = 6, 0.5 g/L, and 35 °C). The biosorption of the CdIW2 strain was consistent with the Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-second order kinetic and showed the process's spontaneous thermodynamic and endothermic results. The removal rate 91.74% of MBBR in batch mode was obtained in 72 h and 10 mg/L of Cd(II). Furthermore, continuous mode bioreactor analysis has shown high efficiency at intel loading rates of 6–36 mg/L. day for cadmium removal. The second order kinetic (Grau) was chosen as the suitable model for modeling the MBBR process. Although several studies have evaluated the removal of various types of heavy metals, none of the studies involved the use of a metal-resistant strain in an MBBR bioreactor.

Nitrogen removal in moving-bed biofilm reactor plants at low temperatures: experiences from Norway.

Cold and diluted wastewater is a major challenge for nitrogen removal at wastewater treatment plants. The moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) process has proven suitable for nitrogen removal under these conditions and several full-scale plants have been in operation for more than 20 years. These plants are still performing well, even at above design loads. Recently some of these plants have been evaluated for their low-temperature performance. In general, the results showed that temperatures down to 5 °C only had a minor impact on observed nitrification and denitrification rates. Higher dissolved oxygen concentrations can boost nitrification rates and are used as a tool to increase rates at low temperatures, thus partially compensating for the temperature effect. Post-denitrification rates were boosted by a controlled increase in carbon-to-nitrogen ratios at low temperatures. MBBR processes with combined pre- and post-denitrification are recommended for nitrogen-removal plants operating at low temperatures. Design recommendations and examples of flowsheets are given.

Upgrading the MBBR Process to Reduce Excess Sludge Production in Activated Sludge System Treating Sewage

Excess sludge production is one of the limitations of the biological activated sludge process. Therefore, the study’s objective is to upgrade the MBBR process to an integrated fixed film-activated sludge (IFAS) process to reduce excess sludge production. Two scenarios were followed in this study to eliminate sludge production in the biological activated sludge process: first, modifying the moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) system by increasing the solid retention time (SRT) from 5 to 15 days; and second, upgrading the MBBR process to the integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) process by applying return activated sludge (RAS) of 50, 100 and 150% with operating hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 6, 12, 14 and 20 h. The results revealed that the first scenario reduced sludge production from 750 to 150 g/day, whereas the second scenario eliminated sludge generation. In the second scenario, operating the system as an IFAS process with complete SRT has eliminated sludge due to sludge decay and cell lysis. In part 3 of the second scenario, the results also showed that the system achieved low effluent pollutants concentrations of 3, 12, 8 and 45 mg/L for BOD, COD, TSS and NO3, respectively. Operating at complete SRT may eliminate sludge production but also result in higher NO3 effluent concentration due to the production of NH3 from sludge decay and cell lysis. To conclude, sludge elimination in an activated sludge system is possible by carefully controlling the process and applying RAS without additional treatment.

Distribution and transformation of organophosphate esters in moving bed biofilm reactor.

A moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) process in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) uses plastic carriers, called biofilm carrier, to increase their treatment efficiency. Biofilm carrier is made up of plastic, containing the OPEs as flame retardants or plasticizers, so OPEs in biofilm carrier are possible to release from WWTPs to the river. This study investigated the effect of the MBBR process in WWTP on aquatic environments, focusing on OPEs. OPE eluted from the biofilm carrier by leaching test was tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), and the concentration of the effluent compared to the influent was increased in the WWTP of the MBBR process. 3609mg/day of TCEP would be discharged into the water using the second-order model with rate constant [Formula: see text] = 0.000451 (ng L-1)-1h-1, which is the most suitable for the leaching concentration of TCEP. It was identified that TCEP in biofilm carrier was transformed into oxidative dechlorinated compounds and oxidative compounds by microorganisms in the bioreactor. As a result of the study, it was confirmed that not only TCEP but also transformation products of TCEP emitted into the water from the MBBR process of WWTP.

Integration of a pure moving bed biofilm reactor process into a large micro-polluted water treatment plant.

The pure-MBBR process was applied to remove ammonia in a full-scale micro-polluted-water treatment plant with a daily treatment capacity of 260 × 104 m3/d, Guangdong, China. The relationship between treatment efficiency, physical and chemical properties and microbial diversity in the process of biofilm growth was explored, and the oxygen transfer model of biofilm was established. The results show that the effluent of two-stage pure MBBR process is stable and up to standard after 10 days' incubation. The nitrification loads of two-stage biofilm was stable on the 14th day. The biomass and biofilm thickness lagged behind the nitrification load, and reached a relatively stable level on the 28th day. The species richness of biofilm basically reached a stable level on the 21st day, and the microbial diversity of primary biofilm was higher. In the primary and secondary stage at different periods, the relative abundance of dominant nitrifying bacteria Nitrospira reaches 8.48-13.60%, 6.48-9.27%, and Nitrosomonas reaches 2.89-5.64%, 0.00-3.48%. The pure MBBR system mainly adopts perforated aeration. Through the cutting and blocking of bubbles by suspended carriers, the oxygen transfer rate of the system was greatly improved.

Photo-Fenton like process as polishing step of biologically co-treated olive mill wastewater for phenols removal

In this study, UVC or sunlight assisted photo-Fenton like process (PFI) using iron(III) iminodisuccinate (Fe-IDS) as catalyst was investigated for the first time as post-treatment method of a Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) for the treatment of olive mill wastewater (OMW). Hydraulic retention time for the MBBR process was 24 h, while the treatment time for the PFI process was 3 h under UVC or solar light irradiation. Before the MBBR treatment, OMW was centrifuged and mixed with synthetic urban wastewater to simulate conditions in a real wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The MBBR was highly effective in reducing Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) (97 and 91%, respectively), but less effective (57%) in the removal of total phenols (TPHs). PFI was optimized for TPHs removal through response surface methodology. UVC driven PFI allowed to reach higher TPHs removal than sunlight driven PFI. Fe (III) dosage was set at 2 mg/L while optimum H2O2 dosage resulted to be 144 mg/L. In these conditions, the UVC driven process allowed to obtain a TPHs removal of 99%, reaching a final TPHs concentration of 0.07 ± 0.01 mg/L.

Salt-tolerant heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification (HNAD) bacterium enhancing a pilot-scale moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) treating mariculture wastewater treatment with different COD/TN ratios

Efficient nitrogen (N) removal from mariculture wastewater is one of the important measures to protect the marine ecological environment. A moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) inoculating heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification (HNAD) bacteria was set and the effects of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN) (COD/TN) ratios on N removal performance, enzymatic activity, biofilm characteristics and microbial community were discussed. Results showed that a more stable N removal performance was obtained in the MBBR process inoculating HNAD bacteria under low COD/TN ratio compared with the conventional MBBR. The removal efficiency of nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) declined with COD/TN ratio decrease, and protein (PN) and polysaccharide (PS) concentration decreased from 284.3 and 37.1 mg (g VSS)−1 to 42.9 and 14.4 mg (g VSS)−1 with low ammonia monooxygenase (AMO), nitrite reductase (NIR) and nitrate reductase (NR) activities. Sequencing analysis revealed that strain Zobellella B307 became the dominant microorganism (the relatively abundance is 2.33–5.60 %), and its relatively abundance and the functional genes related to N metabolism reduced from 15.38 % to 9.66 % and 0.61 % to 0.55 % with COD/TN ratio decrease to explain the reason for the decrease of N removal efficiency. This study can provide a deep insight into N removal mechanism of the reactor inoculating HNAD bacteria under different COD/TN ratios.

Bioaugmentation performance for moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) treating mariculture wastewater by an isolated novel halophilic heterotrophic nitrification aerobic denitrification (HNAD) strain (Zobellella B307)

Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) demonstrates weak nitrogen removal for mariculture wastewater treatment under high salinity environment. An isolated novel halophilic heterotrophic nitrification aerobic denitrification (HNAD) strain (Zobellella B307) was applied in MBBR process to enhance nitrogen removal. Results showed that strain Zobellella B307 could remove 90.9% ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) and 97.1% nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) after 10 h cultivation, and strong resistance to salinity variation (high growth and nitrogen removal efficiency with salinity of 65‰) was observed. Besides, the chemical oxygen demand (COD), NH4+-N and NO3−-N removal reached 95.6%, 94.4% and 85.7% with the strain added into MBBR process. In addition, microbial community structure analysis reflected that the strain Zobellella B307 successfully proliferated (the relative abundance increased to 2.33%). The HNAD bacteria abundance increased and dominated during the nitrogen removal process with the strain inoculation. A microbial functional analysis revealed that the main dominant functional categories (carbohydrate metabolism and amino acid metabolism) increased with the bioaugmentation of strain Zobellella B307, thus improving the nitrogen removal.

Nitrogen removal capacity and carbon demand requirements of partial denitrification/anammox MBBR and IFAS processes.

A pilot study was conducted to investigate the carbon demand requirements and nitrogen removal capabilities of two mainstream partial denitrification/anammox (PdNA) processes: a two-zone, moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) process and an integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) process. The first MBBR zone conducted PdNA, while the second operated as an anammox zone. Operation of the IFAS process was conducted in two phases. The first phase of the operation involved minor external carbon addition, while the second phase of the operation involved controlled external carbon addition. The MBBR process produced an average effluent TIN concentration and chemical oxygen demand (COD)/TIN ratio of 2.81 ± 1.21 mg/L and 2.42 ± 0.77 g/g. The average effluent TIN concentrations and COD/TIN ratios for the IFAS process were 4.07 ± 1.66 mg/L and 1.08 ± 0.38 g/g during phase 1 and 3.30 ± 0.96 mg/L and 2.18 ± 0.99 g/g during phase 2. Despite having relatively low and unstable partial denitrification (PdN) efficiencies, both mainstream PdNA processes exhibited low effluent TIN concentrations and carbon requirements compared to nitrification/denitrification. Successful operation of the PdNA IFAS process indicates that mainstream PdNA can be implemented with minimal capital costs in a water resource recovery facility's second anoxic zone. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Low effluent TIN concentrations can be maintained in mainstream PdNA MBBR and IFAS processes with low external carbon demand. MBBR and IFAS PdNA processes do not require consistent or high PdN efficiencies to maintain low effluent TIN concentrations. IFAS and MBBR PdNA processes exhibit similar TIN and NH3 removal efficiencies. PdNA can be implemented in a second anoxic zone, using IFAS technology for anammox retention, with minimal capital costs.

Combined application analysis of MBBR and magnetic coagulation process in a full-scale project

The combined application of moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) and magnetic coagulation (MC) is a new method of enhancing nitrogen and phosphorus removal of wastewater treatment plants with limited land occupation. This had been successfully used in a full-scale 30,000-m3/d wastewater treatment plant in Guangdong Province, China. The effluent concentrations of COD, NH4+–N, total phosphorus (TP), and suspended solid (SS) stabilized at 11.6 ± 3.9, 1.4 ± 1.3, 0.28 ± 0.11, and 2.2 ± 1.2 mg/L when the corresponding influent concentrations were 81.7 ± 27.5, 15.2 ± 3.0, 1.40 ± 0.29, and 42 ± 19 mg/L, respectively, which could steadily meet the designed discharge standard even though the land occupation was merely at 2000 m2. Regarding the MBBR effluent, the MC process sufficiently removed residual SS, TP, and some COD within 3 min of sedimentation, which ensured that the discharge reached the designed standard. The relative abundance of nitrifying genera of the secondary MBBR was higher than that of the primary MBBR, leading to a greater NH4+–N removal ability for the secondary MBBR. Meanwhile, the primary MBBR was superior to the secondary MBBR in terms of organic matter removal. The suspended carrier was more competent in enriching nitrifiers than the activated sludge, highlighting the significant advantage of MBBR. However, the suspended carrier was insufficient in enriching phosphorus removal bacteria as compared with the activated sludge, leading to a poor biological TP removal efficiency of the MBBR process. Further research is needed to improve the biological phosphorus removal ability of MBBR.

Occurrence and risk assessment of typical PPCPs and biodegradation pathway of ribavirin in wastewater treatment plants

A large number of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) persist in wastewater, and the consumption of PPCPs for COVID-19 control and prevention has sharply increased during the pandemic. This study investigated the occurrence, removal efficiency, and risk assessment of six typical PPCPs commonly used in China in two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Ribavirin (RBV) is an effective pharmaceutical for severely ill patients with COVID-19, and the possible biodegradation pathway of RBV by activated sludge was discovered. The experimental results showed that PPCPs were detected in two WWTPs with a detection rate of 100% and concentrations ranging between 612 and 2323 ng L−1. The detection frequency and concentrations of RBV were substantially higher, with a maximum concentration of 314 ng L−1. Relatively high pollution loads were found for the following PPCPs from influent: ibuprofen > ranitidine hydrochloride > RBV > ampicillin sodium > clozapine > sulfamethoxazole. The removal efficiency of PPCPs was closely related to adsorption and biodegradation in activated sludge, and the moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) had a higher removal capacity than the anoxic-anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (AAAO) process. The removal efficiencies of sulfamethoxazole, ampicillin sodium, ibuprofen, and clozapine ranged from 92.21% to 97.86% in MBBR process and were relatively low, from 61.82% to 97.62% in AAAO process, and the removal of RBV and ranitidine hydrochloride were lower than 42.96% in both MBBR and AAAO processes. The discrepancy in removal efficiency is caused by temperature, hydrophilicity, and hydrophobicity of the compound, and acidity and alkalinity. The transformation products of RBV in activated sludge were detected and identified, and the biodegradation process of RBV could be speculated as follows: first breaks into TCONH2 and an oxygen-containing five-membered heterocyclic ring under the nucleosidase reaction, and then TCONH2 is finally formed into TCOOH through amide hydrolysis. Aquatic ecological risks based on risk quotient (RQ) assessment showed that PPCPs had high and medium risks in the influent, and the RQ values were all reduced after MBBR and AAAO treatment. Ranitidine hydrochloride and clozapine still showed high and medium risks in the effluent, respectively, and thus presented potential risks to the aquatic ecosystem.

Applicaion of Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) for Treatment of Industrial Wastewater: A mini Review

This research aims at presenting Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) technology as one of the alternatives and efficient methods for treating industrial wastewaters at a variety of conditions. In the last decade, this technology became more popular and widely utilized worldwide, due to the fact that the need for clean water keeps to rapidly increase with the increase in the population of the world grows year by year, which is why a high number of the waste-water treatment facilities are necessary expand, for the purpose of providing additional capacity with the minimal costs. The present study aimed at covering the most significant MBBR processes, like the fundamental process of the treatment, biofilm kinetics, and MBBR operation principles. This review includes as well a large number of the relevant researches that have been performed at the lab and pilot scales, in addition to cover the important procedures on the basic process of the treatment, which affects the influent types as well as the carrier type. None-the-less, this review concluded yet has been compiled herein and reported to be acquiring more sufficient insights and outlook upon the theme with a view to meet the new method. For that purpose, the most feasible technology may be the advanced biological process (i.e., the bio-reactor systems), which include the MBBR system

PENGOLAHAN LIMBAH DOMESTIK RUMAH MAKAN DENGAN MOVING BED BIOFILM REACTOR (MBBR)

Saat ini usaha rumah makan jumlahnya semakin meningkat. Air buangan yang diakibatkan oleh aktivitas rumah makan tersebut akan menjadi suatu permasalahan bagi lingkungan. Pengolahan air buangan rumah makan bisa dilakukan dengan cara pengolahan biologis karena dapat menurunkan kandungan organik pada air limbah. Proses pengolahan biologis yang dapat digunakan yaitu dengan sistem Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR). Proses MBBR pada prinsipnya adalah pertumbuhan biologis dengan menggunakan biakan tersuspensi dan melekat yang tercampur didalam suatu reaktor dengan aerasi dan media yang bergerak. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui kinerja MBBR dalam menurunkan TOC dan TSS pada air buangan rumah makan. Media yang digunakan adalah Kaldness K3 dan Bioball dengan variasi komposisi media yaitu 100% Kaldness K3, 100% Bioball, 50% Kaldness K3 dan 50% Bioball, 60% Kaldness K3 dan 40% Biobll, 40% Kaldness K3 dan 60% Bioball. Variasi kedua adalah waktu sampling yaitu 3 jam, 6 jam, 9 jam, 12 jam, dan 15 jam. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa kemampuan reaktor MBBR paling optimum adalah dengan komposisi 100% Kaldness K3 pada waktu sampling 15 jam. Reaktor tersebut dapat menurunkan TOC sebesar 97,84% dan untuk penurunan TSS sebesar 76,84%

Performance and microbial ecology of a novel moving bed biofilm reactor process inoculated with heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification bacteria for high ammonia nitrogen wastewater treatment

To overcome long start-up time, poor ammonia tolerance and removal performance of traditional moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) inoculated with activated sludge for high-ammonia wastewater treatment, a novel MBBR based on heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification (HN-AD) was proposed. Start-up of MBBR was firstly performed via inoculated with HN-AD bacteria. Start-up time was shortened from 39 d to 15 d, NH4+ tolerance was enhanced from 200 mg/L to 1000 mg/L, and TN removal was increased from 30.4% to 80.7%. The carrier types and NH4+ concentration had significant effects on nitrogen removal and microbial ecology. When the NH4+ concentration was increased to 900 mg/L in MBBR using polyvinyl alcohol gel as carrier, the TN removal, the abundance of HN-AD bacteria Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas and Paracoccus, which played a key role in TN removal and ammonia tolerance, and the abundance of genes related to nitrogen removal were much higher than those of MBBR using kaldness.

Study on optimization and performance of biological enhanced activated sludge process for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment

Simulated pharmaceutical wastewater was treated by moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) and total reflux sludge reactor process (STR) system. By cultivating specific bacterial groups, optimizing reactor process parameters, and comparatively analyzing the pollutant removal efficiency under stable operating conditions of the system, the treatment efficiency of the two systems under the combined impact load of organic pollutants on the target pollutants indole and naphthalene was studied. The optimal operation parameters of reactors: hydraulic retention time (HRT) was 8 h, aeration was 0.12 m3/h. The effect was better in 25 ± 1 °C than that in 20 ± 2 °C. During stable operation, the average removal rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) of the MBBR system was significantly higher than that of STR, and the two kinds of target pollutants concentration in water was lower than the detection limit. In the combined impact test of organic pollutants, the dominant bacterial group obtained by domestication had a high degradation ability, so the combined impact of indole and naphthalene had little effect on the two reactors. But in the fourth stage, the residual naphthalene concentration in the STR system effluent exceeded the target value. Therefore, the MBBR process has a stronger treatment effect on pharmaceutical wastewater than the STR system during the stable period and the impact load stage.

Optimizing nutrient removal of moving bed biofilm reactor process using response surface methodology

The potential of 3-stages process (anaerobic, anoxic and moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR)) for organic matter and nutrient removals from secondary WWTP effluents at various hydraulic retention time (HRT) and nitrate recycle ratio (R) was investigated. Percentage removals of total nitrogen (%TNremoval) and phosphorous (%TPremoval) were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Under optimized conditions (HRTtotal = 12.8 hr and R = 1.5) significant chemical oxygen demand removal (%CODremoval), %TNremoval and %TPremoval of 95.5%, 96.2%, 94.70% were attained. The MMBR effectively reduced organic matter and nutrient under low HRT and R. %TNremoval was improved by increasing the HRTR2 up to 1.5 h at R ≤ 2. Bio-uptake of phosphorus and nitrate is controlled by release of secondary phosphorous. Reactors demonstrated stable biofilm characteristics except for a slight decrease in biofilm thickness due to flow-shear stress. The 3-stages process performed four times higher than suspended growth process and similar to 5-stage Bardenpho-MBBR.

Biological removal of diazinon in a moving bed biofilm reactor – process optimization with central composite design

Diazinon is one of the most widely used organophosphate pesticides classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “moderately hazardous” Class II, and its removal from water is of unquestionable importance. The aim of this study was the optimization of diazinon biodegradation from synthetic wastewater by moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) using the response surface methodology (RSM). The variables such as initial diazinon concentration (10–50 mg/L), hydraulic retention time (HRT) (12–36 h) and a filling fraction (25–75%) were studied according to the RSM. The highest diazinon removal efficiency using the biological process was 97.66%, under the conditions, i.e. (HRT= 36 h, filling fraction= 75% and diazinon concentration = 10 mg/L). The quadratic model was well fitted with test results (R 2 = 0.986). Moreover, the kinetics of the biological process showed that removal of diazinon from synthetic wastewater adhered to the second-order model (Grau) with a high correlation coefficient (R 2 = 0.97). The results showed that the MBBR process can be effectively used as a biological process to remove diazinon and similar pesticides.

A Study on the Hydraulic Behavior in Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor for Water Treatment (I) - Observation through Tracer Tests -

The purpose of this study was to investigate the optimum condition of hydraulic behavior in MBBR (Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor) process under various operating conditions. As results of the tracer tests, it was found that the air injection amount/rate had an important influence on the hydraulic behavior in the reactor. However, the filling rate of the carrier did not affect the hydraulic flow. It is also observed that the selective operation of the air injection pipeline has little effect on the hydraulic behavior. The operation of the internal circulators reduces the short-circuit flow and the dead flow, and by inclining them, causing the up-down flow causes improve flow condition into to that of the ideal CSTR (Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor). Key words: MBBR (Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor), tracer test, short circuit flow, eddy flow, CSTR (Continuos Stirred Tank Reactor)

Enhanced simultaneous nitri-denitrification in aerobic moving bed biofilm reactor containing polyurethane foam-based carrier media.

Fluidization of carrier media for biofilm support and growth defines the moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) process. Major MBBR facilities apply virgin polyethylene (PE)-based circular plastic carrier media. Various carriers were studied to replace these conventional carriers, but polyurethane (PU) foam-based carrier media has not been much explored. This study evaluates the potential of PU foam carrier media in aerobic MBBR process for simultaneous nitri-denitrification (SND). Two parallel reactors loaded with conventional PE plastic (circular) and PU foam (cubical) carriers compared for their removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nitrogen contaminants from wastewater. Results indicate that average COD removal in MBBR containing PE plastic carrier media was 81%, compared to 83% in MBBR containing PU foam. Average ammonical and total nitrogen reduction was 71% and 59% for PU foam-based MBBR, compared to 60% and 42% for PE plastic-based MBBR. SND-based nitrogen removal capacity was doubled in aerobic MBBR filled with PU foam carrier media (27%), than MBBR containing PE plastic carrier media (13%). Cost economics also governs the commercial advantage for the application of PU foam-based carrier media in the MBBR process.