title: Municipal wastewater treatment by moving-bed-biofilm reactor with diatomaceous earth as carriers.
abstract: This study was conducted to examine the feasibility of using a moving-bed-biofilm reactor with internal circulation through aeration for the treatment of municipal wastewater. The attached film was a mixed-microorganism consortium, which used composite-refined-diatomaceous earth as novel biomass carriers to form a diatomaceous-earth-moving-bed-biofilm-reactor (DEMBBR) process. The startup of laboratory-scale, continuous-flow reactor was successfully achieved without seeding activated sludge. The DEMBBR process removed chemical oxygen demand, total phosphorus, ammonium-nitrogen, and turbidity at the highest rate of 88.5, 83, 92.3, and 96.7%, respectively, with a hydraulic retention time of only 2.5 hours. The DEMBBR was less affected by interruption and adverse operation conditions than the conventional-activated-sludge reactor. Thus, the DEMBBR could be proposed to be a cost-effective, small-wastewater-treatment-process unit.
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. yaping_zhao@163.com
authors.forename: Yaping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Dawen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D007692:Diatomaceous Earth / Q000737:chemistry*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012722:Sewage; D007692:Diatomaceous Earth