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Seasonal-related effects on ammonium removal in activated carbon filter biologically enhanced by heterotrophic nitrifying bacteria for drinking water treatment

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Abstract

To determine the potential effects of seasonal changes on water temperature and water quality upon removal of ammonium and organic carbon pollutants and to characterize the variations in microbial characteristics, a pilot-scale activated carbon filter biologically enhanced with heterotrophic nitrifying bacteria was investigated for 528 days. The results show that 69.2 ± 28.6% of ammonium and 23.1 ± 11.6% of the dissolved organic carbon were removed by the biologically enhanced activated carbon (BEAC) reactor. It is shown that higher biodegradable dissolved organic carbon enhances ammonium removal, even at low temperatures. The C/N ratio consumed by the BEAC reactor reached a steady value (i.e., 3.3) after 2 months of operation. Despite seasonal fluctuations and competition of the indigenous community, the heterotrophic nitrifying bacteria (Acinetobacter sp. HRBLi 16 and Acinetobacter harbinensis strain HITLi 7) remained relatively stable. The amount of carbon source was the most significant environmental parameter and dramatically affected the microbial community compositions in the BEAC reactor. The present study provides new insights into the application of a BEAC reactor for ammonium removal from drinking water, resisting strong seasonal changes.

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Acknowledgements

The present research was carried out at State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment of the School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation, China (grant number 51578178). The authors gratefully acknowledge our colleagues in these programs that have made significant contributions during the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, People’s Republic of China

    Wen Qin, Wei-Guang Li, Xiao-Fei Huang, Wen-biao Fan, Duoying Zhang & Yang Song

  2. School of Energy and Civil Engineering, Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin, 150028, People’s Republic of China

    Xu-jin Gong

  3. China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., Ltd, Wuhan, 430063, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Yao

  4. Beijing Institute of Water, Beijing, 100048, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-ju Wang

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  1. Wen Qin
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  2. Wei-Guang Li
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  4. Xiao-Fei Huang
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  5. Wen-biao Fan
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  9. Yang Song
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Correspondence to Wei-Guang Li.

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Qin, W., Li, WG., Gong, Xj. et al. Seasonal-related effects on ammonium removal in activated carbon filter biologically enhanced by heterotrophic nitrifying bacteria for drinking water treatment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 19569–19582 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9522-3

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