A Comparison of the Performance of Bacterial Biofilters and Fungal-bacterial Coupled Biofilters in BTE-X Removal

Overview

Journal PeerJ

Specialties Biology
Environmental Health
General Medicine

Date 2024 Jun 21

PMID 38903883

Authors

Hai Wang

Xiaojuan Xue

Xujun Nan

Jian Zhai

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Conventional biofilters, which rely on bacterial activity, face challenges in eliminating hydrophobic compounds, such as aromatic compounds. This is due to the low solubility of these compounds in water, which makes them difficult to absorb by bacterial biofilms. Furthermore, biofilter operational stability is often hampered by acidification and drying out of the filter bed.

Methods: Two bioreactors, a bacterial biofilter (B-BF) and a fungal-bacterial coupled biofilter (F&B-BF) were inoculated with activated sludge from the secondary sedimentation tank of the Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Company wastewater treatment plant located in Nanjing, China. For approximately 6 months of operation, a F&B-BF was more effective than a B-BF in eliminating a gas-phase mixture containing benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and -xylene (BTE-X).

Results: After operating for four months, the F&B-BF showed higher removal efficiencies for toluene (T), ethylbenzene (E), benzene (B), and -X (-Xylene), at 96.9%, 92.6%, 83.9%, and 83.8%, respectively, compared to those of the B-BF (90.1%, 78.7%, 64.8%, and 59.3%). The degradation activity order for B-BF and F&B-BF was T > E > B > -X. Similarly, the rates of mineralization for BTE-X in the F&B-BF were 74.9%, 66.5%, 55.3%, and 45.1%, respectively, which were higher than those in the B-BF (56.5%, 50.8%, 43.8%, and 30.5%). Additionally, the F&B-BF (2 days) exhibited faster recovery rates than the B-BF (5 days).

Conclusions: It was found that a starvation protocol was beneficial for the stable operation of both the B-BF and F&B-BF. Community structure analysis showed that the bacterial genus and the fungal genus were both important in the degradation of BTE-X. The fungal-bacterial consortia can enhance the biofiltration removal of BTE-X vapors.

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