Influence of pore structure on biologically activated carbon performance and biofilm microbial characteristics

Highlights

• Pore structure affects biologically activated carbon performance.

• Pore structure determines organic matter (OM) removal mechanism.

• Microbial community structure is related to pore structure and OM removal.

Abstract

Optimizing the characteristics of granular activated carbon (GAC) can improve the performance of biologically activated carbon (BAC) filters, and iodine value has always been the principal index for GAC selection. However, in this study, among three types of GAC treating the same humic acid-contaminated water, one had an iodine value 35% lower than the other two, but the dissolved organic carbon removal efficiency of its BAC was less than 5% away from the others. Iodine value was found to influence the removal of different organic fractions instead of the total removal efficiency. Based on the removal and biological characteristics, two possible mechanisms of organic matter removal during steady-state were suggested. For GAC with poor micropore volume and iodine value, high molecular weight substances (3500–9000 Da) were removed mainly through degradation by microorganisms, and the biodegraded organics (soluble microbial by-products,<3500 Da) were released because of the low adsorption capacity of activated carbon. For GAC with higher micropore volume and iodine value, organics with low molecular weight (<3500 Da) were more easily removed, first being adsorbed by micropores and then biodegraded by the biofilm. The biomass was determined by the pore volume with pore diameters greater than 100 μm, but did not correspond to the removal efficiency. Nevertheless, the microbial community structure was coordinate with both the pore structure and the organic removal characteristics. The findings provide a theoretical basis for selecting GAC for the BAC process based on its pore structure.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Granular activated carbon / Biologically activated carbon filter / Bacterial community structure / Pore structure

References

[1] Boon N, Pycke B F, Marzorati M, Hammes F (2011). Nutrient gradients in a granular activated carbon biofilter drives bacterial community organization and dynamics. Water Research, 45(19): 6355–6361

[2] Chen M, Liu W, Tan G, Han L (2013). Study on the influential factors on expansion curves of up-flow GAC process in waterworks. Water and Wastewater Engineering, 39(3): 115–120 (in Chinese)

[3] Chen S, Zhou Y, Chen Y, Gu J (2018). Fastp: An ultra-fast all-in-one FASTQ preprocessor. Bioinformatics (Oxford, England), 34(17): i884–i890

[4] Chen W, Westerhoff P, Leenheer J, Booksh K (2003). Fluorescence excitation-emission matrix regional integration to quantify spectra for dissolved organic matter. Environmental Science & Technology, 37(24): 5701–5710

[5] Chiang Y C, Chiang P C, Huang C P (2001). Effects of pore structure and temperature on VOC adsorption on activated carbon. Carbon, 39(4): 523–534

[6] Du Z, Jia R, Li C, Cui P, Song W, Liu J (2020). Pilot-scale UV/H₂O₂-BAC process for drinking water treatment – Analysis and comparison of different activated carbon columns. Chemical Engineering Journal, 382: 123044

[7] Dussert W B, Stone V R G (1994). Biological activated carbon process for water purification. Water-Engineering & Management, 141(12): 22–24

[8] Edgar R C (2013). UPARSE: highly accurate OTU sequences from microbial amplicon reads. Nature Methods, 10(10): 996–998

[9] Franz M, Arafat H A, Pinto N G (2000). Effect of chemical surface heterogeneity on the adsorption mechanism of dissolved aromatics on activated carbon. Carbon, 38(13): 1807–1819

[10] Gibert O, Lefevre B, Fernandez M, Bernat X, Paraira M, Pons M (2013). Fractionation and removal of dissolved organic carbon in a full-scale granular activated carbon filter used for drinking water production. Water Research, 47(8): 2821–2829

[11] Han L, Liu W, Chen M, Zhang M, Liu S, Sun R, Fei X (2013). Comparison of NOM removal and microbial properties in up-flow/down-flow BAC filter. Water Research, 47(14): 4861–4868

[12] Herzberg M, Dosoretz C G, Kuhn J, Klein S, Green M (2006). Visualization of active biomass distribution in a BGAC fluidized bed reactor using GFP tagged Pseudomonas putida F1. Water Research, 40(14): 2704–2712

[13] Hidayah E N, Chou Y C, Yeh H H (2016). Using HPSEC to identify NOM fraction removal and the correlation with disinfection by-product precursors. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, 16(2): 305–313

[14] Hou L, Zhou Q, Wu Q, Gu Q, Sun M, Zhang J (2018). Spatiotemporal changes in bacterial community and microbial activity in a full-scale drinking water treatment plant. Science of the Total Environment, 625: 449–459

[15] Jiang W, Xia S, Liang J, Zhang Z, Hermanowicz S W (2013). Effect of quorum quenching on the reactor performance, biofouling and biomass characteristics in membrane bioreactors. Water Research, 47(1): 187–196

[16] Jørgensen N O G, Brandt K K, Nybroe O, Hansen M (2010). Vogesella mureinivorans sp. nov., a peptidoglycan-degrading bacterium from lake water. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 60(10): 2467–2472

[17] Kaarela O E, Harkki H A, Palmroth M R T, Tuhkanen T A (2015). Bacterial diversity and active biomass in full-scale granular activated carbon filters operated at low water temperatures. Environmental Technology, 36(6): 681–692

[18] Karanfil T, Kilduff J (1999). Role of granular activated carbon surface chemistry on the adsorption of organic compounds. 1. Priority pollutants. Environmental Science & Technology, 33(18): 3217–3224

[19] Klimenko N, Winther-Nielsen M, Smolin S, Nevynna L, Sydorenko J (2002). Role of the physico-chemical factors in the purification process of water from surface-active matter by biosorption. Water Research, 36(20): 5132–5140

[20] Korotta-Gamage S M, Sathasivan A (2017). A review: Potential and challenges of biologically activated carbon to remove natural organic matter in drinking water purification process. Chemosphere, 167: 120–138

[21] Lautenschlager K, Hwang C, Ling F, Liu W T, Boon N, Koster O, Egli T, Hammes F (2014). Abundance and composition of indigenous bacterial communities in a multi-step biofiltration-based drinking water treatment plant. Water Research, 62: 40–52

[22] Liao X, Chen C, Wang Z, Wan R, Chang C H, Zhang X, Xie S (2013a). Changes of biomass and bacterial communities in biological activated carbon filters for drinking water treatment. Process Biochemistry, 48(2): 312–316

[23] Liao X, Chen C, Wang Z, Wan R, Chang C H, Zhang X, Xie S (2013b). Pyrosequencing analysis of bacterial communities in drinking water biofilters receiving influents of different types. Process Biochemistry, 48(4): 703–707

[24] Lillo-Ródenas M A, Cazorla-Amorós D, Linares-Solano A (2005). Behaviour of activated carbons with different pore size distributions and surface oxygen groups for benzene and toluene adsorption at low concentrations. Carbon, 43(8): 1758–1767

[25] Liu C, Yang J, Li C, Zhou K, Liu Y, Gao Z, Chen W (2019). The variation of the biological activated carbon during the application and the judgement criterion of its invalidation. Water & Wastewater Engineering, 45(2): 9–16 (in Chinese)

[26] Liu S T, Yang H W, Liu W J, Zhao Y, Wang X M, Xie Y F F (2016). Evaluation of backwash strategies on biologically active carbon filters by using chloroacetic acids as indicator chemicals. Process Biochemistry, 51(7): 886–894

[27] Lu Z, Sun W, Li C, Ao X, Yang C, Li S (2019). Bioremoval of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs by Pseudoxanthomonas sp. DIN-3 isolated from biological activated carbon process. Water Research, 161: 459–472

[28] Lu Z, Sun W, Li C, Cao W, Jing Z, Li S, Ao X, Chen C, Liu S (2020). Effect of granular activated carbon pore-size distribution on biological activated carbon filter performance. Water Research, 177: 115768

[29] Magoč T, Salzberg S L (2011). FLASH: fast length adjustment of short reads to improve genome assemblies. Bioinformatics (Oxford, England), 27(21): 2957–2963

[30] McKie M J, Bertoia C, Taylor-Edmonds L, Andrews S A, Andrews R C (2019). Pilot-scale comparison of cyclically and continuously operated drinking water biofilters: Evaluation of biomass, biological activity and treated water quality. Water Research, 149: 488–495

[31] Moore B C, Cannon F S, Westrick J A, Metz D H, Shrive C A, DeMarco J, Hartman D J (2001). Changes in GAC pore structure during full-scale water treatment at Cincinnati a comparison between virgin and thermally reactivated GAC. Carbon, 39(6): 789–807

[32] Morlay C, Joly J P (2010). Contribution to the textural characterisation of Filtrasorb 400 and other commercial activated carbons commonly used for water treatment. Journal of Porous Materials, 17(5): 535–543

[33] Newcombe G, Drikas M, Hayes R (1997). Influence of characterised natural organic material on activated carbon adsorption effect on pore volume distribution and adsorption of 2-methylisoborneol. Water Research, 31(5): 1065–1073

[34] Oh S, Hammes F, Liu W T (2018). Metagenomic characterization of biofilter microbial communities in a full-scale drinking water treatment plant. Water Research, 128: 278–285

[35] Pharand L, Van Dyke M I, Anderson W B, Huck P M (2014). Assessment of biomass in drinking water biofilters by adenosine triphosphate. Journal- American Water Works Association, 106(10): E433–E444

[36] Qi W, Li W, Zhang J, Wu X, Zhang J, Zhang W (2018). Effect of biological activated carbon filter depth and backwashing process on transformation of biofilm community. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 13(1): 1–11

[37] Rameshkumar N, Lang E, Tanaka N (2016). Description of Vogesella oryzae sp. nov., isolated from the rhizosphere of saline tolerant pokkali rice. Systematic and Applied Microbiology, 39(1): 20–24

[38] Ross P S, van der Aa L T J, van Dijk T, Rietveld L C (2019). Effects of water quality changes on performance of biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration. Separation and Purification Technology, 212: 676–683

[39] Servais P, Billen G, Bouillot P (1994). Biological colonization of granular activated carbon filters in drinking- water treatment. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 120(4): 888–899

[40] Sheu S Y, Chen J C, Young C C, Chen W M (2013). Vogesella fluminis sp. nov., isolated from a freshwater river, and emended description of the genus Vogesella. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 63(Pt_8): 3043–3049

[41] Stackebrandt E, Goebel B M (1994). Taxonomic note: A place for DNA-DNA reassociation and 16S rRNA sequence analysis in the present species definition in bacteriology. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, 44(4): 846–849

[42] Subhash Y, Tushar L, Sasikala C, Ramana C V (2013).Vogesella alkaliphila sp. nov., isolated from an alkaline soil, and emended description of the genus Vogesella. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 63(Pt_6): 2338–2343

[43] Wang Q, Garrity G M, Tiedje J M, Cole J R (2007). Naive Bayesian classifier for rapid assignment of rRNA sequences into the new bacterial taxonomy. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 73(16): 5261–5267

[44] Wu Z, Zhang P, Zeng G, Zhang M, Jiang J (2012). Humic acid removal from water with polyaluminum coagulants: Effect of sulfate on aluminum polymerization. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 138(3): 293–298

[45] Xu B, Gao N Y, Sun X F, Xia S J, Simonnot M O, Causserand C, Rui M, Wu H H (2007). Characteristics of organic material in Huangpu River and treatability with the O₃-BAC process. Separation and Purification Technology, 57(2): 348–355

[46] Yang J, Ma J, Song D, Zhai X, Kong X (2016). Impact of preozonation on the bioactivity and biodiversity of subsequent biofilters under low temperature conditions; A pilot study. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 10(4): 5–10

[47] Yang S D, Liao L H, Liu Z D (2014). Effect of temperature and the altitude of filler on biological activated carbon performance. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 621: 13–18

[48] Yapsaklı K, Çeçen F, Aktaş Ö, Can Z S (2009). Impact of surface properties of granular activated carbon and preozonation on adsorption and desorption of natural organic matter. Environmental Engineering Science, 26(3): 489–500

[49] Yu Y (2015). Impacts of Activated Carbon Porosity Feature on the Removal and Microbiological Characteristics of BAC. Dissertation for the Master’s Degree. Beijing: Tsinghua University (in Chinese)

[50] Zheng J, Lin T, Chen W, Tao H, Tan Y, Ma B (2018). Removal of precursors of typical nitrogenous disinfection byproducts in ozonation integrated with biological activated carbon (O₃/BAC). Chemosphere, 209: 68–77

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2019YFC0408700), the funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51778323 and 51761125013), and the National Science and Technology Major Projects of China (Nos. 2012ZX07404-002, 2017ZX07108-002, and 2017ZX-07502003).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-021-1419-1 and is accessible for authorized users.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2021 Higher Education Press