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Published on: October 15, 2015
Trace elements enhance biofilm formation in UASB reactor for solo simple molecule wastewater treatment
Wenjie Zhang1, Xuehong Zhang, Dunqiu Wang
1The Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Engineering, Protection and Assessment, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, 12 Jiangan Road, Guilin 541004, PR China. zhangwj_zhangwj@hotmail.com
Abstract:
In this paper, trace elements (TE) adding was investigated in one bench-scale UASB reactor treating solo simple molecule wastewater with the aim of evaluating its effect on enhancing biofilm formation. After adding sufficient TE (3 mL/L) in the influent, during 3 days, COD removal efficiency increased from 74% to 90% comparing to no adding TE. Over 55 days of operation, the organic loading rate (OLR) reached 11 g/L/day with COD removal efficiencies greater than 90%. While in the steady running period no effect even improvement on treatment performance was observed without any TE adding. The results illuminated that TE accounted for quick start-up of the UASB biofilm system rather than ever known biocatalyst.
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