A Novel Microbial Biofilm Carrier for Wastewater Remediation

Abstract

Biological wastewater treatment via biofilm colonies are still in their early stages of evolution. Solid carriers made of wide range of materials in different designs have been introduced to increase biofilm growth by delivering high surface area which expands microbes’ attachment. It reduces 70-90% of total wastewater contamination (Based on the treatment circumstances and influent properties). In addition, it is considered a low-cost biological process and highly preferred by wastewater industries. Despite that, biofilm carriers failed to deliver a stable biotreatment. Unsteady bioremediation could occur because of using ineffective designed carrier which disturbs the microbial growth. Numerous biofilm carriers had been reviewed and mentioned in this paper like K1, AMT, BioBall, …etc. Then, two carrier designs named as Ultra and Micro media were introduced to carry and protect biofilm and microbial colonies from being removed during the process. Its expected that the new biofilm carriers can improve moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) performance in terms of stability, biomass accumulation, clogging, and biofilm growth. At the end, unharmful wastewater can be discharged to the waterways or recycled back into the industry. Finally, this study suggests designing carriers having crimped surfaces to enhance the extracellular polymeric substance attachment.

Experimental investigation of biofilm carriers of varying shapes, sizes, and materials for wastewater treatment in fixed bed biofilm reactor: a qualitative study of biocarrier performance

“…Ultra Media, as a large biofilm carrier with large inner compartments, showed a higher removal rate on day 3 than day 2 and did not demonstrate process instability despite being larger than the 3.0 cm BioBall and biological filter. This could be due to surface roughness, as described in recent studies by Al-Amshawee et al 4,21 It was noted on day 3 that small-scale biofilm carriers have begun to produce effluents with comparable quality to the best effluent produced by the large-scale carriers. For instance, the 1.6 cm BioBall delivered an effluent concentration of 2418 mg COD L −1 , which is similar to the 2.5 cm BioBall effluent quality of 2361 mg COD L −1 .…”

“…8 Biofilm carriers have been used worldwide in different shapes and sizes for the treatment of various influents. 4 Biofilm carriers could be made of various materials, such as polyethylene, polyurethane, and granular activated carbon, where the manufacturing material can directly affect the growth rate of biofilms and the population of attached microorganisms, which greatly determines the treatment efficiency. 7,9 Polyurethane sponge was considered an ideal growth medium in a large number of studies due to its high mechanical strength, large specific surface area, rough surface, and good adherence to microorganisms.…”

Influence of wettability and surface design on the adhesion of terrestrial cyanobacteria to additive manufactured biocarriers

“…Regarding different biocarrier structures, the highest growth of heterotrophic and phototrophic biofilms has often been observed in the protected internal structures and cavities when used in fluidized beds [36,43,44]. As the cyanobacteria tended to adhere to the grooves of the lateral area on the cultivated biocarriers (Fig.…”

A review of wastewater bacterial bio oxidation: mechanisms, reactions, and behaviors

“…and Flavobacterium sp. These microorganisms support their attachment by creating extracellular polymer substance (EPS), and proceed the denitrification process with slow evolution [15][16][17]. Certain microbial groups such as filamentous can be encouraged to expand under ample capital of energy-rich substrates such as fructose and glucose [18].…”