Influences of hydraulic loading rate on SVOC removal and microbial community structure in drinking water treatment biofilters

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials Vol. 178; no. 1; pp. 652 - 657
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xu-Xiang, Zhang, Zong-Yao, Ma, Li-Ping, Liu, Ning, Wu, Bing, Zhang, Yan, Li, Ai-Min, Cheng, Shu-Pei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 15.06.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Bacteria; Biological and medical sciences; Biological filtration; Biomass; Biotechnology; Chemical engineering; Communities; Continental surface waters; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; DNA, Bacterial - isolation & purification; Drinking water; Drinking water and swimming-pool water. Desalination; Drinking water treatment; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Exact sciences and technology; Filtration - methods; Firmicutes; Fluid dynamics; Fluid flow; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hydraulic loading rate; Hydraulics; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Microorganisms; Molecular Sequence Data; Natural water pollution; Organic Chemicals - chemistry; Others; Pollutants; Pollution; Reactors; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - analysis; Semivolatile organic compounds; Various methods and equipments; Water Microbiology; Water Pollutants, Chemical - isolation & purification; Water Purification - methods; Water Supply - analysis; Water Supply - standards; Water treatment and pollution; Yangtze River; China, People's Rep., Changjiang R; Drinking water treatment; Hydraulic loading rate; Biological filtration; Semivolatile organic compounds; Yangtze River; Community structure; Escherichia coli; Volatile organic compound; Low volatile compound; Biological purification; Pollutant; Bioreactor; Loading; Chemical oxygen demand; Trend analysis; Surface water; Water quality; Bacteria; Stream; Biofilter; Microbial community; Organic compounds; Enterobacteriaceae
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2010.01.135

Six biofilters were used for advanced treatment of Yangtze River source water to investigate the effects of hydraulic loading rate (HLR) on pollutant removal and microbial community. HLR was found to exert significant influences on the removal efficiency of the conventional pollutants and 24 detectable semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs). More than 85% of chemical oxygen demand and assimilable organic carbon was removed at the optimal HLR of 3.0 m h −1. With the increase of HLR, SVOC removal showed a decreasing trend. Di- n-butyl phthalate and bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, two main SVOCs in the source water, had the highest removals of 71.2% and 84.4%, respectively. Nearly 65% of 2,6-dinitrotoluene and 80% of isophorone were removed at the lowest HLR. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Escherichia coli, Shigella sp., E. fergusonii and Firmicutes bacteria predominated in the bioreactors. The dominance of E. coli in the low-HLR biofilters might contribute greatly to the high SVOC removal.