Abstract
A long-term pilot-scale H2-based membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) was tested for removal of nitrate from actual groundwater. A key feature of this secondgeneration pilot MBfR is that it employed lower cost polyester hollow fibers and still achieved high loading rate. The steady-state maximum nitrate surface loading at which the effluent nitrate and nitrite concentrations were below the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) was at least 5.9 g·N·(m2·d)-1, which corresponds to a maximum volumetric loading of at least 7.7 kg·N·(m3·d) -1. The steady-state maximum nitrate surface area loading was higher than the highest nitrate surface loading reported in the firstgeneration MBfRs using composite fibers (2.6 g·N·(m2·d)-1). This work also evaluated the H2-utilization efficiency in MBfR. The measured H2 supply rate was only slightly higher than the stoichiometric H2-utilization rate. Thus, H2 utilization was controlled by diffusion and was close to 100% efficiency, as long as biofilm accumulated on the polyester-fiber surface and the fibers had no leaks.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 280-285 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Frontiers of Environmental Science and Engineering in China |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2010 |
Keywords
- denitrification
- groundwater treatment
- hydrogen
- membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR)
- polyester fiber
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Science(all)