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Updated: Dec 9, 2025
A Novel Bioreactor for High Density Cultivation of Diverse Microbial Communities
Published on: December 25, 2015
Simultaneous removal of nitrate and sulfate using an up-flow three-dimensional biofilm electrode reactor: Performance
Qi Tang1, Yanqing Sheng2, Changyu Li1
1Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Abstract:
Nitrate removal from low carbon water is a problem in the water treatment, especially in the presence of high sulfate. In this work, an up-flow three-dimensional biofilm electrode reactor (3D-BER) was established to remove nitrate and sulfate from low organic carbon water. Results indicated that sulfate negatively affected nitrate removal. Moreover, high electric current and short hydraulic retention time deteriorated the performance of nitrate and sulfate removal. When the influent of SO42- was 150 mg/L, the removal efficiency of NO3--N and SO42- was 88.49 ± 4.5% and 29.35 ± 5.5%, respectively. The high-throughput sequencing revealed that denitrifying bacteria dominated in the lower part of the reactor while sulfate reducing bacteria dominated in the upper part of the reactor. It was speculated that oxidation products of sulfide could serve as supplementary electron donors to enhance nitrate removal in the 3D-BER.
