title: Comparison of polyurethane foam and biodegradable polymer as carriers in moving bed biofilm reactor for treating wastewater with a low C/N ratio.
abstract: This paper presents a comparison between two different materials used as carriers: inert polyurethane (PU) foam and biodegradable polymer polycaprolactone (PCL) particles for the removal of organics and nitrogen from wastewater with a low C/N ratio using moving bed biofilm reactors. The results, during a monitoring period of four months, showed that TOC and ammonium removal efficiency was higher in reactor 2 filled with PU carriers than in reactor 1 filled with PCL carriers (90% and 65% in the former, compared with 72% and 56% in the latter at an hydraulic retention time of 14 h). Reactor 1 showed good behavior in terms of total nitrogen removal as the biodegradable polymer was an effective substrate providing reducing power for denitrification. From three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix analysis, it was shown that the effluent from reactor 1 contained mainly protein-like and soluble microbial product-like substances.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Environmental Technology, INET, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.
authors.forename: Libing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Jianlong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D058440:Denitrification; D058465:Nitrification; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011140:Polyurethanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D011140:Polyurethanes; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen