Evaluation of Tire Derived Rubber Particles for Biofiltration Media

Abstract

Currently, on average, one tire is discarded in the U.S. for every man woman and child every year. While the reuse market for used tires has increased over the years to approximately 75%, there are still an estimated 2-3 billion used tires stockpiled in the U.S. Finding economical and sustainable end uses for this tire material is an ongoing challenge to environmental engineers and others. In this study, three different uses of tire rubber were evaluated as biofilm attachment media in bioreactors for wastewater treatment: in an aerobic biofilter, in anoxic bioreactor, and in a hybrid anaerobic static granular bed reactor (SGBR). Size distribution, chemical composition, scanning electron microscopy, and whole effluent toxicity analyses were performed. These tests demonstrated that the tire rubber media was non-toxic and provided good surface area for biofilm attachment. The trickling filter system using chunk rubber (average diameter of approximately 3 cm) achieved 79.6-90.1% COD removal efficiency at organic loading rates ranging from 0.12 kg COD/m 3 •d to 0.34 kg COD/m 3 •d. In the hybrid SGBR, anaerobic granular sludge was augmented with fine rubber particles (average particle diameter of approximately 0.2 mm) and achieved greater than 90% COD removal at hydraulic retention times of 48 to 20 h resulting in organic loading increases from 0.44 to 2.7 kg/m 3 •d. The anoxic TDRP filter system achieved nitrate-nitrogen removal efficiencies greater than 97% at influent concentrations ranging from 52 to 94 mg NO 3-N/L. This research demonstrated the utility of TDRP media in multiple biofiltration applications.

Development of a Biofilter with Tire-Derived Rubber Particle Media for Hydrogen Sulfide Odor Removal

“…Moreover, several bioreactors with TDRP, trickling filters, hybrid SGBR with TDRP, and anoxic TDRP filters have successful performances, owing to the applicability of TDRP to the biofilter media (Park et al 2006), which contain a high surface area, provides high porosity, adsorbs hydrogen sulfide over a range of conditions, and resists biodegradation. The use of rubber particles in the odor removal system seems to be a viable option because of the economic advantage of reusing discarded tire materials and the high potential of TDRP media for biofilm attachment.…”

A Novel Configuration Fluidized Bed Reactor for Nitrate Reduction and Low Strength Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment

“…Granular rubber is a low-density material, and has already been proven as an useable media in wastewater treatment systems. It is non-toxic for microorganisms in wastewater treatment under anoxic and anaerobic conditions [3]. A novel FBR can operate more effectively without internal recirculation, and therefor a recirculating pump is not required.…”

Effect of the chemical composition of filter media on the microbial community in wastewater biofilms at different temperatures

“…Moreover, TDR media provide a large surface area, high porosity, and resistance to biodegradation. 18 We sought new understanding of the influence of different temperature conditions and media types on the biofilm composition. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first application of NGS to characterize and compare biofilm samples on different types of media used in bioreactors for wastewater treatment.…”