Phosphorus limitation in biofiltration for drinking water treatment

Bacterial growth potential (BGP) method and two parallel pilot-scale biofilters were used to investigate phosphorus limitation and its effect on the removal of organic matters in biofiltration for drinking water treatment. Addition of phosphorus can substantially increase the BGPs of the samples. Its effect was equivalent to that of addition of a mixture of various inorganic nutrients including phosphorus. The biofilter with phosphate added into its influent performed a higher biological stability of the effluent and a higher COD(Mn) removal than the control filter. These results suggested that phosphorus was the limiting nutrient in the biofiltration and the removal efficiency of organic matters could be improved by adding phosphate into the influent.