title: Biodegradation behavior of natural organic matter (NOM) in a biological aerated filter (BAF) as a pretreatment for ultrafiltration (UF) of river water.
abstract: In this study, biodegradation of natural organic matter (NOM) in a biological aerated filter (BAF) as pretreatment of UF treating river water was investigated. Photometric measurement, three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy and liquid chromatography with online organic carbon detector (LC-OCD) were used to investigate the fate of NOM fractions in the BAF + UF process. Results showed that the BAF process could effectively remove particles and parts of dissolved organic matter, which led to a lower NOM loading in the UF system, but different NOM fractions showed different biodegradation potentials. Further biodegradation batch experiments confirmed this observation and identified that polysaccharides and proteins (quantified using photometric methods) contained a large proportion of readily biodegradable matter while humic substances were mainly composed of inert organic substances. According to EEM measurements, it is evident that protein-like substances were more readily eliminated by microorganisms than humic-like substances. LC-OCD data also supported the phenomena that the polysaccharides and large-size proteins were more degradable than humic substances.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guocheng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Fangang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Huijun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jekel
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000378:metabolism*; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D014462:Ultrafiltration; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals