Performance evaluation of a lab-scale moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) using polyethylene as support material in the treatment of wastewater contaminated with terephthalic acid

Accepted Manuscript Performance evaluation of a lab-scale moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) using polyethylene as support material in the treatment of wastewater contaminated with terephthalic acid

Jiawei Liu, Jie Zhou, Ning Xu, Aiyong He, Fengxue Xin, Jiangfeng Ma, Yan Fang, Wenming Zhang, Shixun Liu, Min Jiang, Weiliang Dong PII:

S0045-6535(19)30638-1

DOI:

10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.03.186

Reference:

CHEM 23500

To appear in:

Chemosphere

Received Date:

21 November 2018

Accepted Date:

29 March 2019

Please cite this article as: Jiawei Liu, Jie Zhou, Ning Xu, Aiyong He, Fengxue Xin, Jiangfeng Ma, Yan Fang, Wenming Zhang, Shixun Liu, Min Jiang, Weiliang Dong, Performance evaluation of a lab-scale moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) using polyethylene as support material in the treatment of wastewater contaminated with terephthalic acid, Chemosphere (2019), doi: 10.1016/j. chemosphere.2019.03.186

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Performance evaluation of a lab-scale moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) using polyethylene as support material in the treatment of wastewater contaminated with terephthalic acid Jiawei Liua, Jie Zhoua,b, Ning Xua,c, Aiyong Hec, Fengxue Xina,b, Jiangfeng Maa,b, Yan Fanga,b, Wenming Zhanga,b, Shixun Liua, Min Jianga,b*, Weiliang Donga,b,*

aState

Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of

Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211800, P.R. China bJiangsu

National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM),

Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211800, P.R. China cJiangsu

Key Laboratory for Biomass-based Energy and Enzyme Technology,

Huaiyin Normal University, Huaian, 223300, P. R. China

*Correspondence: Nanjing Tech University, Puzhu South Road No. 30, Nanjing 211800, P. R. China. Tel.: +86 25 58139933; Fax: +86 25 58139933 E-mail address: [email protected] (W.L. Dong); [email protected] (M. 1

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Jiang)

2

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Abstract

2

Untreated terephthalic acid (TPA) wastewaters with high organic loads will

3

cause severe environmental pollution problems. In this study, a lab-scale moving bed

4

biofilm reactor, where biomass of Delftia sp. WL-3 is attached to polypropylene

5

carrier elements, has been tested for TPA bioremediation at 25-27°C. The system

6

achieved stable operation after a short 15-day start-up period. During the operation

7

period of 65 days, stable chemical oxygen demand (COD) and TPA removal

8

efficiencies of 68% and 76% were maintained with an organic load rate (OLR) and

9

hydraulic retention time of 2.5 kg COD·(m3·d)-1 and 24 h, respectively. In addition,

10

the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) showed that high-densities of WL-3

11

biomass accumulated on the surface of the carrier and formed a rich biofilm,

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indicating polypropylene carrier can improve the degradation efficiency. On the

13

contrary, the biodegradation ability of stain WL-3 without the polypropylene carrier

14

declined significantly with removal efficiencies of 10% and 15% for COD and TPA.

15

Furthermore, the system exhibited excellent robustness to different OLR and influent

16

matrix ratios, indicating its potential for applications in the treatment of

17

TPA-containment wastewater in the field.

18 19

Keywords

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Polypropylene carrier; moving bed biofilm reactor; TPA wastewater; Delftia sp.

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WL-3. 3

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Highlights

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

28 29

the first time . 

30 31

34

Polyethylene was used as the support material to enhance TPA biotreatment processes.



32 33

MBBR and Delftia sp. WL-3 were used for the treatment of TPA wastewater for

This reactor exhibited excellent adaptability to perturbations of different environmental factors.



This reactor indicated its potential for applications in the treatment of TPA-containing wastewater.

35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 4

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1.

Introduction

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Terephthalic acid (TPA) is one of the most important chemical products in the

50

world. It is widely used in the manufacture of polyester fibers, molded resin and

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polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles (Kleerebezem et al. 2000). TPA manufacture

52

consumes a large amount of water in in the process of production, resulting in 3-10 m3

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wastewater generation per ton of TPA produced. This wastewater has a chemical

54

oxygen demand (COD) of 5-20 kg·m3, and contains other chemical contaminants such

55

as terephthalate, acetate, benzoate and p-toluate (Kleerebezem et al., 1997; Macarie et

56

al., 1992).

57

TPA wastewaters with high organic loads can cause severe environmental

58

pollution problems (Young et al., 2000), inhibiting the growth of aquatic organisms

59

including fish and algae and having teratogenic and mutagenic effects on animals.

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They can even harm human health through food chain enrichment, thereby causing

61

bladder cancer, damaging kidneys, liver and testes, as well as causing other organ

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dysfunctions (Karthik et al., 2008). Consequently, the American Environmental

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Protection Agency (EPA) has listed TPA as one of the priority environmental 5

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pollutants in 1978 (Kim et al., 2012). However, the treatment of TPA-containing

65

wastewater remains an urgent problem to be solved even forty years later

66

et al., 2008).

(Karthik

67

Bioreactors have advantages over physical and chemical processes, because they

68

can effectively remove a wide range of pollutants from wastewater in an

69

environmentally sound and cost-effective manner (Wang et al., 1998; Jaafari et al.,

70

2014; Seyedsalehi et al., 2018). The biological anaerobic reactors used to treat TPA

71

wastewater can be divided into up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors (UASB),

72

anaerobic baffled reactors (ABR) and fluidized bed reactors (FBR) (Macarie et al.,

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1992; Young et al., 2000; Karthik et al., 2008). However, anaerobic processes have

74

several disadvantages, including low biomass, low COD removal capacity, and

75

complex operation control systems. The moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR), which

76

uses an aerobic activated sludge process, has attracted considerable attention in recent

77

years (Calderón et al., 2012; Biswas et al., 2014; Chhetri et al., 2015).

78

Moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR), a completely mixed and continuously

79

operated biofilm reactor with much advantages of high sludge retention time while

80

requiring comparatively low HRTs, good tolerance to organic loading shocks, no

81

major sludge bulking issues and low risks regarding the clogging of carrier media,

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was introduced about 30 years ago and is now used in large-scale operations all over

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the world (Delnavaz et al., 2010; Jafari et al., 2013; Malovanyy et al., 2015). In

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addition, the MBBR can support a higher biofilm density while maintaining favorable 6

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mass transfer characteristics by raising the amount of moving carrier or using a carrier

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with a large effective biofilm surface area (Biswas et al., 2014; Canziani et al., 2006).

87

Therefore, the MBBR process has been recently implemented to treat wastewater with

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a number of highly toxic pollutants, including landfill leachate (Chen et al., 2008),

89

aniline (Delnavaz et al., 2010), ammonium from saline wastewater (Bassin et al.,

90

2011), coal gasification wastewater (Li et al., 2011), thiocyanate (Jeongc et al., 2006)

91

and pharmaceutical wastewater from antibiotic fermentations (Xing et al., 2013).

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However, we are not aware of any publications on the treatment of TPA wastewater

93

using a MBBR.

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In this study, an aerobic MBBR with polyethylene as the support material and

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Delftia sp. WL-3 as bacterial sludge was used for the biodegradation of

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TPA-containment wastewater. The performance of the aerobic reactor system was

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evaluated under different operating conditions, including different influent TPA

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concentrations, hydraulic retention time (HRT) values and sudden change factors.

99 100

2.

Materials and methods

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2.1

Simulated wastewater

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The synthetic TPA wastewater was prepared by adding the following reagents

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into tap water (per liter of final liquid volume): 134 mg of NH4Cl, 65 mg of

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K2HPO4·3H2O, 700 mg of TPA. A trace metal solution of 0.1% (v/v) was added

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everyday, which contained 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 30 mg·L-1 for H3BO3, ZnCl2, 7

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MnSO4H2O,

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respectively (Feng et al., 2015). The prepared simulated wastewater had a COD of

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1000 mg·L-1 and a COD:N:P ratio of 100:5:1. All chemical reagents were of

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analytical grade or higher and were purchased from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.

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Ltd (Shanghai, China). The polypropylene carrier was obtained from KingFa Co. Ltd

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(Guangzhou, China).

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2.2

(NH4)6Mo7O244H2O,

AlCl3,

CoCl26H2O,

NiCl2,

and

CuCl2,

Lab-scale aerobic reactor system

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The reactor was analogous to the industrial MBBR reactor system and was

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developed for the continuous treatment of TPA wastewater. A schematic diagram of

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the system is shown in Fig. 1. The 2.3-L reactor was made of organic glass with a

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diameter of 10 cm and height of 30 cm. The wastewater in the reactor was circulated

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from the top to the bottom to expand the bacterial sludge biomass, resulting in a

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working volume of 1.5 L. The recirculation flow rate of influent wastewater was

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controlled by a variable-speed peristaltic pump, and was mixed in a TPA tank (T-I)

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prior to introducing it into the reactor. The oxygen was provided by an oxygen pump

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connected to the reactor. The reactor was filled with the carrier to 45% of its active

122

volume, and the total amount of carrier was 0.675 L. The observed physical properties

123

of the polypropylene carriers were as follows: mean diameter (ɸ) 8.7 mm, specific dry

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density 4.2 kg·m3 and specific surface area (Sa) 900 (m2·m-3). The system was tested

125

at various OLRs to achieve the most effective performance of the reactor. During the

126

experiments, the reactor was maintained at room temperature (25–27°C). 8

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2.3

Reactor set-up, inoculation and start-up

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The reactor was filled with the simulated wastewater containing TPA as a carbon

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source and inoculated with the WL-3 bacterial sludge. The WL-3 bacterial sludge was

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composed of Delftia sp. strain WL-3, which was isolated from a secondary settling

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tank in Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Co. Ltd (Nanjing, China) (Liu et al., 2018),

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precultured in LB medium for 12 h and harvested by centrifugation at 6000 × g for 10

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min, followed by washing twice with sterilized water. An aliquot comprising 7.50 g of

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the bacterial sludge was used to inoculate 1 L of TPA wastewater, after which the

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bacteria-wastewater mixture was slowly feed with the oxygen for several days and

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then fed into the reactor at a low flow rate. The initial concentration of TPA in the

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simulated wastewater was 500 mg·L-1. An oxygen pump was used in the reactor to

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provide oxygen for the growth of the strain WL-3, which is aerobic. The biomass was

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immobilized on the carriers and acclimatized though continuous feeding of TPA

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wastewater over a period of 15 d. A reactor inoculated with the WL-3 bacterial sludge

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without the carrier served as a control. The reactors with and without carrier material

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were denoted as S1 and S2, respectively.

143

2.4 Experimental procedures

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2.4.1 Determining the effect of influent COD concentration on the reactor

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During the operation period, the reactor (S1) was started with 1.0 kg

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COD·(m3·d)-1 OLR, 24 h HRT, under the conditions of varying COD values (1000,

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1500, 2000, 2500 mg·L-1). The concentrations of TPA corresponding to the COD 9

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were 700, 1050, 1400 and 1750 mg·L-1 respectively. Each time the influent

149

concentration of COD was changed, an adaptation period of two days was provided,

150

followed by determination of COD and TPA concentration in the third day, and all

151

experiments were performed in triplicate.

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2.4.2 Determining the effect of HRT on the reactor

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During the operation period, the reactor (S1) was started with 2500 mg·L-1

154

influent COD concentration. The COD:N:P ratio was 100:5:1, and the HRT was

155

varied (24, 20, 16 and 12 h). Each time the HRT operating conditions were changed,

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an adaptation period of two days was provided, followed by the determination of the

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COD and TPA concentration in the third day and all experiments were performed in

158

triplicate.

159

2.4.3 Determining the effect of simultaneous changes of hydraulic retention time and

160

influent matrix ratio on the reactor

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During the operation period, the reactor (S1) was started with 2500 mg·L-1

162

influent COD concentration, 24 h HRT and a COD:N:P ratio of 100:5:1. The influent

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matrix ratio (COD:N:P) was changed from 100:5:1 to 300:5:1, and the HRT was

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changed from 24 h to 12 h at the same time to examine the ability of the reactor to

165

resist simultaneous perturbations of multiple factors. The influent matrix ratio and

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HRT were subsequently returned to the same value as before to examine the system’s

167

ability of self-recovery after damage. Concentrations of COD and TPA were

168

determined in the operation period and all experiments were performed in triplicate. 10

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2.5

Analytical methods

170

The concentration of TPA in the wastewater was measured by high performance

171

liquid chromatography (HPLC). Samples were collected at regular intervals, and

172

supernatant was harvested by centrifugation at 10000 × g for 10 min and then filtered

173

through a 0.22-μm nylon membrane for HPLC analysis using a Kromasil 100-5C18

174

column (4.6 mm × 250 mm; Agilent Technologies, China) with a mobile phase

175

comprising methanol:water (80:20, vol/vol) at a flow rate of 0.8 mL·min-1. The

176

detection wavelength was 240 nm, and the injection volume was 5 µL. The

177

concentration of COD was measured by the potassium dichromate method which used

178

potassium dichromate as oxidant (Jaafari et al., 2017).

179

The carrier samples were mildly washed with a 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH

180

7.0), fixed with glutaraldehyde in the phosphate buffer solution (2.5% w/v, pH 7.0)

181

and laid aside for 12 h. The fixed carrier samples were dehydrated with ethanol, dried

182

in a constant-temperature drying oven at 35°C (Kleerebezem et al., 2015). The

183

structure of the biofilm in the carrier samples finally observed via SEM (TM3000;

184

Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan) at a beam energy of 15 kV. Before examination, samples were

185

coated with a thin layer of gold using a sputter coater (Quorum Q 150 RS, Quorum

186

Technologies).

187

3. Results and discussion

188

3.1

189

Reactor design A schematic representation of the TPA wastewater treatment system consisted of 11

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the MBBR reactor, oxygen pump, feed tank and diaphragm metering pump is shown

191

in Fig. 1. The MBBR reactor was inoculated with a bacterial sludge comprising

192

Delftia sp. WL-3, which was identified in a previous study to have excellent TPA

193

degradation ability (Liu et al., 2018). Polypropylene material was selected as carrier

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in the MBBR reactor because of its excellent abrasion resistance, longevity under

195

reactor conditions, and low price. Therefore, carriers do not need to be replaced

196

frequently, which simplifies the operability in the field and reduces the running costs.

197

In addition, the carrier is designed with a cross structure in the center, which can

198

increase the internal surface area of the carrier for microorganism attachment. When

199

the system was started, the carrier was mostly suspended in the upper middle of the

200

reactor after being soaked in the aqueous phase, while only a small amount settled at

201

the bottom of the reactor. Consequently, fluidization of the reactor bed can be

202

achieved with lower energy inputs. It is worth mentioning that this is the first time

203

that a MBBR is used for a TPA wastewater treatment system.

204

3.2

Start-up operation period of the reactor

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During the start-up period (Fig. 2), both reactors (S1 and S2) were operated at a

206

low OLR (0.33 kg COD·(m3·d)-1) and a long HRT (36 h) to ensure microbial

207

adaptation and growth. On day 7 after the start of operation, the TPA-degrading strain

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WL-3 could not adapt the reactor system with high COD in short order. Therefore, the

209

biofilm on the carriers was had difficulties forming, which resulted in poor removal

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efficiencies of COD and TPA, which were lower than 30%. In the second stage (day 8 12

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to 15), the removal efficiencies of COD and TPA gradually increased to maximum of

212

66% and 78% respectively. The main reason is that the WL-3 sludge adapted to the

213

internal environment of the reactor, started to grow quickly and formed a mature

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biofilm on the surface of carriers. Thus, both the biodegradation system and the

215

degradation ability of TPA reached equilibrium and stability. Finally, the MBBR

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reactor containing polypropylene as carrier and Delftia sp. WL-3 as degrader strain

217

worked effectively after 15 days of running. By contrast, the corresponding removal

218

efficiencies of COD and TPA in reactor S2 reached only about 10% and 15%, after 15

219

days, which was significantly lower than that of reactor S1 (Fig. 2). It might be the

220

strains were taken out from the water outlet by the water flow easily in the reactor

221

without carriers. While in the reactor with carriers, the strains attached to the carrier,

222

then the increased the ventilation make them grow faster and they formed a mature

223

biofilm finally. These results also indicated that the polypropylene carriers play a key

224

role for improving the robustness and degradability of the system in the wastewater

225

purification process.

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The start-up behavior is crucial for sewage treatment systems, because a shorter

227

start-up period can drastically improve the process economics (Chhetri et al., 2015).

228

The start-up period of the anaerobic fluidized bed reactor using brick beads and

229

porous ceramics as support materials was 34 d and 18 d, respectively (Chhetri et al.,

230

2015). In addition, a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) with selectively enriched

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acidogenic mixed consortia needs 25 d to start up (Yan et al., 2004). A two-stage 13

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up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) process which was investigated as an

233

efficient configuration option for the treatment of purified TPA wastewater takes 40 d

234

to start up (Kim et al., 2012). However, the reactor concept developed in this study

235

needs only 15 days to enter the stable operation period, which offers great advantages

236

during the start-up period for biodegradation of TPA wastewater.

237

3.3

Microscopy studies of the carrier

238

After 15 d, the surface of the polypropylene carrier in the reactor S1 was

239

observed using SEM. As shown in Fig. 3, the high-density strain WL-3 accumulated

240

and formed a dense biofilm on the surface of the polypropylene carrier while the

241

surface of the control polypropylene carrier not inoculated with strain WL-3 was

242

smooth and without biofilm. The polypropylene carrier provided a medium with a

243

large surface area for the formation and growth of biofilm. Therefore, the

244

polypropylene carrier is essential for the formation of a biofilm by strain WL-3 in the

245

TPA wastewater treatment system, which in turn improved the removal efficiency of

246

TPA. It was also reported that a mature biofilm on the carrier plays a key role in the

247

removal of organic contaminants (Yan et al., 2004).

248

3.4

249

3.4.1 Effect of influent COD concentration on the reactor

Steady-state operation period of the reactor

250

This study simulated a medium-strength TPA wastewater and evaluated the

251

effect of environmental perturbations on the reactor by changing the concentration of

252

influent COD, which was divided into four stages according to different COD 14

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concentrations.

254

The first stage is the start-up and stabilization period of the reactor with an

255

average concentration of influent COD of 1000 mg·L-1. During this stage, the

256

microorganisms could not adapt to the high-pollution environment, which resulted in

257

slow growth and difficulty in forming a biofilm, resulting in a low removal efficiency

258

of COD which fluctuated between 31.5% and 66.6%. Subsequently, the average COD

259

concentration of the influent was increased to 1500 and 2000 mg·L-1 in the second

260

and third stages, respectively. The removal efficiencies of COD and TPA in the two

261

stages were in a stable up-ward trend. However, the reactor still could not achieve the

262

ideal biodegradation effect. The main reason is that the microorganisms attached to

263

the surface of the carrier or in the suspended state have not yet reached their maximal

264

biomass, in which limited the removal efficiencies of COD and TPA. When the

265

reactor entered the fourth stage, the average COD concentration of the influent was

266

raised to 2500 mg·L-1, which was realistic for organically contaminated wastewater in

267

the field. In this stage, the removal efficiencies of COD and TPA were nearly ideal,

268

reaching 68% and 76%, respectively (Fig. 4). In summary, the change of influent

269

COD concentration did not have a negative impact on the system and the biomass in

270

the carrier reacted with a significant increase.

271

3.4.2 Effect of HRT on the reactor

272

HRT, which refers to the average residence time of the sewage to be treated in

273

the reactor, is one of the most important parameters of biological sewage treatment, 15

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which. It is the average reaction time of the sewage and the microorganisms in the

275

bioreactor (Fernández et al., 2008). As shown in Fig. 5a, the effluent COD

276

concentration gradually decreases as the hydraulic retention time increased, and the

277

average removal efficiency increased from 36% at 12 h to 68% at 24 h. At the same

278

time, the removal efficiency of COD increased significantly from 12 to 20 h with an

279

average value of 66%. Furthermore, the COD removal efficiency tended to be

280

relatively stable from 20 to 24 h. Similarly, the degradation trend of TPA was

281

consistent with that of COD as the HRT increased. As shown in Fig. 5b, the average

282

removal efficiency of TPA increased from 40% at 12 h to 76% at 24 h, after which it

283

tended to be stable.

284

3.4.3 Effect of simultaneous change of HRT and influent matrix ratio on the reactor

285

When the ratio of COD:N:P was changed to 300:5:1 and the HRT reduced from

286

24 to 12 h at the same time, the removal efficiencies of COD and TPA drastically

287

decreased. The respective average values dropped from 68% and 75% to 50% and

288

60%, respectively, indicating that the simultaneous change of two environmental

289

factors had an extremely adverse effect on the system. When the COD:N:P ratio was

290

changed to 100:5:1 and HRT was changed to 24 h, the same as the previous

291

conditions, the removal efficiency of COD and TPA increased to 65% and 72%,

292

respectively. Thus, while the concomitant changes of multiple conditions had a

293

serious impact on the system, it did not collapse, and actually retained the capacity for

294

self-repair when returned to the previous conditions. 16

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 295

Compared with other TPA wastewater reactor treatment systems (Table 1),

296

Continuous stirred-tank reactor demonstrated higher OLR and lower HRT while the

297

COD removal efficiency is relatively lower of 45%. Although the MBBR

298

demonstrated a lower OLR and higher HRT, it had a higher COD removal efficiency

299

of 68%. Moreover, this moderate OLR and HRT are still believed to be acceptable

300

considering that a MBBR has never been reported to treat TPA wastewaters. If the

301

working volume of the MBBR could be increased, the OLR could have been much

302

improved. As a lab-scale moving bed biofilm reactor, expansion of the installation

303

will be helpful in improving the performance during wastewater treatment and more

304

data on using the reactor for the degradation of true industrial TPA-containing

305

wastewater should be gathered in future studies.

306

4. Conclusions

307

In this study, a lab-scale moving bed biofilm reactor with polypropylene

308

elements as carriers for bacterial sludge comprising Delftia sp. WL-3 was designed

309

for the treatment of TPA-containing wastewater. The system had a start-up period of

310

15 days, and showed stable operation during 65 days with COD and TPA removal

311

efficiencies of 68% and 76% at OLR and HRT of 2.5 kg COD·(m3·d)-1 and 24 h,

312

respectively. Furthermore, the system exhibited excellent adaptability to perturbations

313

of different environmental factors, including influent TPA concentration and HRT, as

314

well as sudden changes of factors, indicating its potential for applications in the

315

treatment of TPA-containing wastewater. 17

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Acknowledgements

318

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China

319

(31700092, 21706125, 21727818 and 21706124), the Jiangsu Province Natural

320

Science Foundation for Youth (BK20170997, BK20170993), the Jiangsu Synergetic

321

Innovation Center for Advanced Bio-Manufacture (XTE1834), the Key Science and

322

Technology Project of Jiangsu Province (BE2016389), Project of State Key

323

Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering (KL17-09), the China

324

Postdoctoral Innovative Talents Support Program (BX20180140), the Open

325

Foundation of Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biomass-Based Energy and Enzyme

326

Technology (BEETKB1801) and Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation

327

Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX18-1114).

328 329

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Credit Author Statement: Jiawei Liu, Jie Zhou, Ning Xu, Weiliang Dong did the experiments and writed this manuscript. Aiyong He, Fengxue Xin, Jiangfeng Ma and Wenming Zhang analyzed the data and made the figures and tables. Jiawei Liu, Jie Zhou and Weiliang Dong drafted the manuscript. Shixun Liu and Min Jiang revised the review. All authors read and approved the final version.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Figure Captions Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the lab-scale MBBR system. Figure 2. COD and TPA removal efficiencies in the reactor with polypropylene carriers (S1) and without polypropylene carriers (S2) during the start-up period. (a) COD removal efficiency; (b) TPA removal efficiency. Figure 3. Scanning electron micrograph of the surface of the polypropylene carrier. (a) The surface of polypropylene carriers not inoculated with strain WL-3; (b) the surface of polypropylene carriers inoculated with strain WL-3. Figure 4. Effect of different influent COD and TPA concentrations on the reactor S1 during the operation period. (a) The concentrations of influent and effluent COD; (b) the concentrations of influent and effluent TPA. Figure 5. Effect of different HRT on the reactor S1 during the operation period. (a) The concentrations of influent and effluent COD; (b) the concentrations of influent and effluent TPA. Figure 6. Effect of simultaneously changing HRT and the influent matrix ratio on the reactor S1.

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2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Figure 1

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18 19 20 21 22 23

Figure 2

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25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Figure 3

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42 43 44 45 46 47

Figure 4

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49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56

Figure 5

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58 59 60 61 62

Figure 6

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Highlights 

MBBR and Delftia sp. WL-3 were used for the treatment of TPA wastewater for the first time .



Polyethylene was used as the support material to enhance TPA biotreatment processes.



This reactor exhibited excellent adaptability to perturbations of different environmental factors.



This reactor indicated its potential for applications in the treatment of TPAcontaining wastewater.

Table 1. Performance of different reactor systems treating TPA wastewater

Anaerobic fixed film fixed bed

Influent COD

OLR

HRT

(mg·L-1)

(kg COD·(m3·d)-1)

(h)

5,000

4-5

24

COD removal efficiency (%) 62

reactor Anaerobic filter

References (Pophali et al., 2007)

-

5.05

50

79

(Joung et al., 2009)

Internal circulation anaerobic reactor

1,100-1,600

-

10

50

(Huang et al., 2009)

Continuous stirred-tank reactor

4,000

16

6

45

(Zhu et al., 2010)

Anaerobic sludge blanket reactor

-

2.6

3

46.4

(Guyot et al., 1990)

Moving bed biofilm reactor

2500

2.5

24

68

This study