Effects of polyurethane foam carrier addition on anoxic/aerobic membrane bioreactor (A/O-MBR) for coal gasification wastewater (CGW) treatment: Performance and microbial community structure

Zhiqiang Chen; Da Li; Hongguo Liu; Qinxue Wen

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148037

Effects of polyurethane foam carrier addition on anoxic/aerobic membrane bioreactor (A/O-MBR) for coal gasification wastewater (CGW) treatment: Performance and microbial community structure

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Oct 1:789:148037. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148037. Epub 2021 May 26.

Authors

Zhiqiang Chen¹, Da Li², Hongguo Liu², Qinxue Wen³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China; School of Civil Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730070, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China. Electronic address: wqxshelly@hit.edu.cn.

PMID: 34082207
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148037

Abstract

Coal gasification wastewater (CGW) is a typical toxic and refractory industrial wastewater with abundant phenols contained. Two identical anoxic/aerobic membrane bioreactors (with (R2) and without (R1) polyurethane (PU) foam) were carried out in parallel to investigate the role of PU foam addition in enhancing pollutants removal in CGW. Results showed that both systems exhibited effective removal of chemical oxygen demand (>93%) and total phenols (>97%) but poor ammonia nitrogen removal (<35%) constrained by ammonia oxidation process. GC-MS analysis revealed that aromatic and other refractory intermediates were dramatically reduced in R2. Moreover, the PU addition had negligible influence on the total soluble microbial products and extracellular polymeric substances contents but significantly alleviated membrane fouling with the operating time 33% prolonged. Microbial community revealed that Flavobacterium, Holophaga, and Geobacter were enriched on PU. Influent type might be a main driver for microbial community succession.

Keywords: A/O-MBR; Coal gasification wastewater; Membrane fouling; Microbial community structure; Polyurethane foam.

MeSH terms

Bioreactors
Coal
Microbiota*
Polyurethanes
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Wastewater*

Substances

Coal
Polyurethanes
Waste Water
polyurethane foam