Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 1, 2026

A Novel Bioreactor for High Density Cultivation of Diverse Microbial Communities
Published on: December 25, 2015
Decentralized wastewater treatment using passively aerated biological filter
Sohair I Abou-Elela1, Mohamed S Hellal1, Olfat H Aly2
1a Water Pollution Research Department , National Research Center , Giza , Egypt.
Abstract:
This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of a novel pilot-scale passively aerated biological filter (PABF) as a low energy consumption system for the treatment of municipal wastewater. It consists of four similar compartments, each containing 40% of a non-woven polyester fabric as a bio-bed. The PABF was fed with primary treated wastewater under a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 3.5 hr and a hydraulic loading rate of 5.5 m2/m3/d. The effect of media depth, HRT, dissolved oxygen (DO) and surface area of the media on the removal efficiency of pollutants was investigated. Results indicated that increasing media depth along the axis of the reactor and consequently increasing the HRT and DO resulted in great removal of different pollutants. A significant increase in the DO levels in the final effluent up to 6.7 mg/l resulted in good nitrification processes. Statistical analysis using SPSS showed that the reactor performance has significant removal efficiency (p < .05) for all pollutants. Overall results indicated that PABF is a viable ecological engineering approach that can be optimized and applied to improve water quality with minimal consumption of energy and low sludge production compared with conventional activated sludge and trickling filter systems.
Related Concept Videos
Environmental Applications of Microorganisms
Microbial Wastewater Treatment
Microbial Fuel Cells
Bioreactor Design and Operational System
Bioreactor Controls-II
Biological Treatment of Effluent and Waste Water

