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Analysis of very-high surface area 3D-printed media in a moving bed biofilm reactor for wastewater treatment.

ABSTRACT: Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (MBBRs) can efficiently treat wastewater by incorporating suspended biocarriers that provide attachment surfaces for active microorganisms. The performance of MBBRs for wastewater treatment is, among other factors, contingent upon the characteristics of the surface area of the biocarriers. Thus, novel biocarrier topology designs can potentially increase MBBR performance in a significant manner. The goal of this work is to assess the performance of 3-D-printed biofilter media biocarriers with varying surface area designs for use in nitrifying MBBRs for wastewater treatment. Mathematical models, rendering, and 3D printing were used to design and fabricate gyroid-shaped biocarriers with a high degree of complexity at three different levels of specific surface area (SSA), generally providing greater specific surface areas than currently available commercial designs. The biocarriers were inoculated with a nitrifying bacteria community, and tested in a series of batch reactors for ammonia conversion to nitrate, in three different experimental configurations: constant fill ratio, constant total surface area, and constant biocarrier media count. Results showed that large and medium SSA gyroid biocarriers delivered the best ammonia conversion performance of all designs, and significantly better than that of a standard commercial design. The percentage of ammonia nitrogen conversion at 8 hours for the best performing biocarrier design was: 99.33% (large SSA gyroid, constant fill ratio), 94.74% (medium SSA gyroid, constant total surface area), and 92.73% (large SSA gyroid, constant biocarrier media count). Additionally, it is shown that the ammonia conversion performance was correlated to the specific surface area of the biocarrier, with the greatest rates of ammonia conversion (99.33%) and nitrate production (2.7 mg/L) for manufactured gyroid biocarriers with a specific surface area greater than 1980.5 m2/m3. The results suggest that the performance of commercial MBBRs for wastewater treatment can be greatly improved by manipulation of media design through topology optimization.

SUBMITTER: Proano-Pena G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7451639 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Analysis of very-high surface area 3D-printed media in a moving bed biofilm reactor for wastewater treatment.

Proano-Pena Gabriel G Carrano Andres L AL Blersch David M DM

PloS one 20200827 8

Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (MBBRs) can efficiently treat wastewater by incorporating suspended biocarriers that provide attachment surfaces for active microorganisms. The performance of MBBRs for wastewater treatment is, among other factors, contingent upon the characteristics of the surface area of the biocarriers. Thus, novel biocarrier topology designs can potentially increase MBBR performance in a significant manner. The goal of this work is to assess the performance of 3-D-printed biofilte ...[more]

PMID: 32853235

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Project description:2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is a herbicide that is considered as a carcinogenic and highly toxic contaminant, and due to its biological and chemical stability, its degradation is very difficult. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate a hybrid system's efficiency of three-dimensional electrochemical (3DE) process and a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) in removing 2,4-D herbicides from aqueous solutions. In this experimental study, the electrochemical degradation of 2,4-D herbicide in a 3DE process with a G/β-PbO2 anode was first investigated as a pretreatment process. Then, in the post-treatment stage, MBBR with continuous flow was used. The amount of aeration in the MBBR reactor was 4 L min-1, and the amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) was in the range of 3-5 mg L-1. The effect of various parameters such as hydraulic retention time (HRT) and filling ratio were investigated. The amount of sewage injection was set between 0.001-0.004 L min-1. Routine microbiological biochemical tests were used to detect bacteria. BOD5/COD, COD/TOC, AOS, and COS ratio parameters were used to determine the biodegradability of 2.4-D due to the effluent of the 3DE process. The results showed that with increasing current density, decreasing pH, decreasing herbicide concentration and increasing electrolysis time, the herbicide degradation efficiency increased by 3DE pretreatment process. Based on the results of MBBR post-treatment process efficiency, with increasing HRT and filling ratio, the herbicide removal efficiency increased. According to the results, the highest removal efficiencies of 2,4-D and COD herbicides were obtained during HRT of 24 h, and the filling ratio of 70% were 97.33% and 88.95%, respectively. The consortium of 2,4-D degrading bacteria identified in this study included E. coli, Enterobacter spp., Bacillus spp., Alcaligenes spp., Proteus spp., Acinetobacter spp., Pseudomonas spp., Arthrobacter, and Brevundimonas vesicularis. In the MBBR biological process, the reaction kinetics followed the Grau second-order model (R 2 = 0.98). In general, the results showed that the combined process of 3DE with G/β-PbO2 anode and MBBR biological process has relatively high efficiency in 2,4-D herbicide degradation and can be used as a suitable complementary treatment method in wastewater containing non-degradable compounds such as phenoxy herbicides, e.g., 2,4-D should be used.

Project description:Certain 3D printed metals and surface finishes may be better suited for canine patient specific orthopedic implants on the basis of minimizing potential bacterial biofilm growth. Thirty disks each of titanium alloy, stainless steel, and cobalt chromium alloy were 3D printed via laser powder bed fusion. Fifteen disks of each metal were subsequently polished. After incubation with a robust biofilm-forming methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius isolate, disks were rinsed and sonicated to collect biofilm bacteria. Serial dilutions were plated on blood agar, and colony forming units were counted log (ln) transformed for analysis of variance. Interference microscopy quantified surface roughness for comparison to biofilm growth. Scanning electron microscopy on both pre- and post-sonicated disks confirmed biofilm presence and subsequent removal, and visualized surface features on cleaned disks. Significantly more bacteria grew on rough versus polished metal preparations (p < 0.0001). Titanium alloy had more bacterial biofilm growth compared to cobalt chromium alloy (p = 0.0001) and stainless steel (p < 0.0001). There were no significant growth differences between cobalt chromium alloy and stainless steel (p = 0.4737). Relationships between biofilm growth and surface roughness varied: positive with the rough preparations and negative with the smooth. Polished preparations had increased variance in surface roughness compared to rough preparations, and within disk variance predominated over between disk variance for all preparations with the exception of rough cobalt chromium alloy and rough stainless steel. Using scanning electron microscopy, bacterial biofilms tended to form in crevices. Overall, manual polishing of 3D printed surfaces significantly reduced biofilm growth, with preparation-specific relationships between surface roughness and biofilm growth. These results suggest that metallic implants produced by laser powder bed fusion should be polished. Further research will elucidate the optimal surface roughness per preparation to reduce potential biofilm formation and implant associated infection.

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Analysis of very-high surface area 3D-printed media in a moving bed biofilm reactor for wastewater treatment.

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Analysis of very-high surface area 3D-printed media in a moving bed biofilm reactor for wastewater treatment.

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