Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2010) 1237–1242

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Journal of Environmental Management

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Treatment of municipal wastewater using a contact oxidation filtration separation

integrated bioreactor
Z.H. Li a, *, K. Yang a, X.J. Yang b, L. Li c
a
Department of Municipal Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, No. 8 South Donghu Road, Wuhan 430072, PR China
b
Environmental Science Research Institute, Wuhan University of Science and Engineering, Wuhan 430073, PR China
c
Central and Southern China Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute, Wuhan 430010, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A new contact oxidation filtration separation integrated bioreactor (CFBR) was used to treat municipal
Received 20 July 2009 wastewater. The CFBR was made up of a biofilm reactor (the upper part of the CFBR) and a gravitational
Received in revised form filtration bed (the lower part of the CFBR). Polyacrylonitrile balls (50 mm diameter, 237 m2/m3 specific
6 January 2010
surface, 90% porosity, and 50.2% packing rate) were filled into the biofilm reactor as biofilm attaching
Accepted 7 February 2010
Available online 26 February 2010
materials and anthracite coal (particle size 1–2 mm, packing density 0.947 g/cm3, non-uniform coefficient
(K80 ¼ d80/d10) < 2.0) was placed into the gravitational filtration bed as filter media. At an organic volu-
metric loading rate of 2.4 kg COD/(m3 d) and an initial filtration velocity of 5 m/h in the CFBR, the average
Keywords:
Bioreactor removal efficiencies of COD, ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen and turbidity were 90.6%, 81.4%, 64.6% and
Contact oxidation 96.7% respectively, but the treatment process seemed not to be effective in phosphorus removal. The
Filtration average removal efficiency of total phosphorus was 60.1%. Additionally, the power consumption of the CFBR
Municipal wastewater was less than 0.15 kWh/m3 of wastewater treated, and less than 1.5 kWh/kg BOD5 removal.
Power consumption Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction To help overcome these issues, a new contact oxidation filtration

Traditional wastewater treatment processes are usually
equipped with different treatment units that have a variety of
functions to achieve acceptable treatment performance (Chung
et al., 2007; Zhan et al., 2006). Conventional processes for
municipal wastewater treatment have disadvantages such as
complicated operation, high running cost, excessive installation
and large land requirement (Odegaard et al., 1994; Loukidou and
Zouboulis, 2001). As a result, wastewater treatment plants
(WWTPs) normal operation face a number of key challenges in
developing countries such as China (Tian et al., 2004; Bao et al.,
2005).
In comparison with those traditional wastewater treatment
processes, biofilm systems have low land requirement and flexible
operation (Rodgers et al., 2003). Biofilm technology systems
include trickling filters, biological aerated filter (BAF), rotating
biological contactor (RBC), fluidized bed reactor (FBR) and moving-
bed reactor (MBR) (Odegaard et al., 1994; Gupta and Gupta, 2001;
Loukidou and Zouboulis, 2001). However, the operational perfor-
mance of the sole biofilm process is more dependent on final sludge
separation in a clarifier (i.e. settlement time).
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ86 13871551362; fax: þ86 27 68775328.
E-mail address: lizhenhua11111@yahoo.cn (Z.H. Li).
separation integrated bioreactor (CFBR) was developed, which was
composed of a Biofilm reactor (the upper part of CFBR) and
a gravitational filtration bed (the lower part of CFBR). The idea relies
on BAF (BAF is a submerged media wastewater treatment unit that
combines aerobic biological treatment and biomass separation by
depth filtration) prototype (Rebecca et al., 2001; Ha, 2006; Hao,
2007; Sprouse, 2008) and principles of slow and cake filtration (A
sticky mat of biological matter, called a ‘‘cake’’, forms on the media
surface, where particles are trapped and organic matter is biolog-
ically degraded) (Sorensen et al., 1995, 1996; Zhu et al., 2004).
Biofilm configuration coupled with gravitational filtration bed
combines the advantages of the Biofilm reactor and the filtration
bed in one system. As the use of filtration process, the CFBR can
keep its effluent SS at a lower level. Moreover, the low investment
cost of CFBR allows a cost-saving advanced treatment for pollutants
from small and medium sized factories as well as separate streams
of process wastewater, especially in developing countries such as
China.
In this study, CFBR was operated in a batch mode to treat
a municipal wastewater. Meanwhile, the Biofilm reactor was
packed with porous polyacrylonitrile balls and the gravitational
filtration bed was filled with anthracite coal. The polyacrylonitrile
ball is a potential packing for biofilm reactor. It is a nonmetallic
polypropylene with the characteristics of high porosity and large

0301-4797/$ – see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.02.001
1238 Z.H. Li et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2010) 1237–1242
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the CFBR (not to scale).
specific surface area. Also, the anthracite coal is a perfect filter
media for slow and cake filtration. It has some advantages over
other filter media, which are lightweight, surface roughness and
powerful decontamination ability. Furthermore, CFBR system first
allows the upper layer to degrade organic matter, which can lighten
the treatment loadings of the anthracite coal layer. The anthracite
coal layer is mainly used to intercept SS in order to ensure that the
CFBR effluent can satisfy the reuse demand. Hence, the saturation
of anthracite coal layer does not take into account. There is also no
need to regenerate during the test.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of
CFBR (the removal efficiency of COD, ammonia nitrogen (NHþ 4 -N),
total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and turbidity) by varying
organic volumetric loading rates. CFBR power consumption was
also investigated during the study. Advantages and limitations of
the CFBR system were discussed with respect to experimental
results. And the CFBR system was designed and fabricated at the
Municipal Engineering Laboratory, Civil Engineering Department,
Wuhan University, China.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. CFBR configuration
Experiment facilities are shown in Fig. 1. CFBR was made of
polymethyl methacrylate, had a volume of 144 l, an inside diameter
of 0.235 m with a height of 5.0 m. The upper layer was filled with
a depth of 3.0 m porous polyacrylonitrile balls (50 mm diameter,
237 m2/m3 specific surface, 90% porosity, and 50.2% packing rate) as
a biofilm reactor and the lower layer was filled with a depth of
1.0 m anthracite coal (particle size 1–2 mm, packing density
0.947 g/cm3, non-uniform coefficient (K80 ¼ d80/d10) < 2.0) as
a gravitational filtration bed. Polyacrylonitrile balls within the CFBR
were immobilized with plastic screens placed above and below that
section. Meanwhile, there was 0.1 m space between the porous
polyacrylonitrile balls layer and the anthracite coal filtration bed,
which was used for filtration bed expansion space. An air–water
nozzle strainer was put at the bottom of CFBR for aeration and
water passing. The highest water level (H1) and the lowest water
level (H2) sensors were placed 1.0 m apart along the CFBR body to
control the water level inside the CFBR.
2.2. Wastewater characteristic
The feed water was primary sedimentation tank effluent
collected from a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in
Wuhan, China. The characteristics of feed wastewater are listed in
Table 1.
2.3. Operational conditions
CFBR was operated with filling, aerobic reaction, and filtration
phase. Fig. 2 describes the process time diagram of the CFBR. This
mode of operation is very suitable to unite the advantages of bio-
film reactor and filtration bed in one reactor (Keller and Yuan,
2002; Lee et al., 2004; Marsili, 2006). The feed wastewater was
introduced to the CFBR with a centrifugal pump. When the water
level reached the lowest water level (H2), air was applied to the
 Z.H. Li et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2010) 1237–1242
Table 1
Characteristics of the CFBR influent.
Parameter Concentration
COD (mg/l)
NHþ4 -N (mg/l) 19.31–30.28
TN (mg/l) 20.21–31.69
TP (mg/l) 1.92–3.45
SS (mg/l)
Turbidity (NTU)
pH
CFBR from the air compressor. Thereafter when the water level
reached the highest water level (H1), the feed pump was shut off.
The filling phase is over, immediately followed by an aerobic
reaction phase. In this phase, air was introduced to maintain
aerobic conditions in the CFBR for a period of time, and DO
concentration was kept at a level of about 2 mg/l in the Biofilm
reactor with a proportional integral derivative controller connected
to an air compressor and aeration ON/OFF electromagnetic valve.
The required air flow rate during the experiment was approxi-
mately 0.2 m3/h. In the end, the CFBR entered into the filtration
discharge phase. The air compressor was shut down. As well, the
discharge line at the bottom of CFBR was opened. The reaction
liquid went through the filtration bed at an initial speed of 5 m/h
for 12-min duration. In a day, the CFBR would experience above
three phases again. The whole operation cycle was operated by
a HITACHI PLC (i.e. programmable logic controller). The HITACHI
PLC was placed next to the CFBR.
Backwashing of the entire unit was carried out to maintain
efficient hydraulic performance and avoid filter clogging because of
the accumulated SS and the excess biomass. The average CFBR
operation before a backwash was 7 d and the maximum time was
14 d over the duration of the experiment. The backwash procedure
included air scour (2 min), combined air scour and water backwash
(2 min), and water backwash (15 min). The air and water backwash
loading rates were set at 16 and 5 l/(s m2), respectively. The air and
water for backwash were from an air compressor and a reservoir
that contained treated wastewater from previous treatment cycles,
respectively. All the experiments were carried out at ambient
temperature 16–28  C.
2.4. Sludge seeding and start up
CFBR was inoculated with activated sludge taken from the
aeration pond in Wuhan Shahu WWTP. About 20 l of activated
sludge (Concentration ¼ 3 g/l) was inoculated into the CFBR. Then
the whole reactor was submerged into feed water and aerated for
0.5 h to achieve complete mixing. After conditioned for 8 h,
wastewater in the CFBR was output entirely and fresh influent
water was continuously fed with the discharge line opened to
maintain a steady flow inside the CFBR. Aeration was applied
consistently from the bottom of the CFBR. This process continued
for about one week until biofilm removal efficiencies of COD and
NHþ 4 -N were stabilized. Furthermore, when 55% of COD removal
and 60% of NHþ 4 -N removal were achieved, the CFBR inoculated
Fig. 2. Process time diagram of the CFBR.
1239
with activated sludge was deemed to succeed and be able to start
the further investigation.
67–284 2.5. Analytical methods
Samples were collected every day, refrigerated at 4  C before
80–386 analysis, except for pH measurement which was done after
67–340 sampling. Water pH was measured by an 828 Orion pH meter. DO
6.4–7.9 and water temperature were measured with a 52 YSI DO meter.
Turbidity was analyzed with a 2100P Hach photoelectric turbidity
meter. COD, BOD5, NHþ4 -N, TN and TP were measured by the stan-
dard methods as given in Standard Monitoring and Analytical
Methods for the Examination of Water and wastewater (EPA, 2002).
3. Results and discussions
The organic volumetric loading rates of biofilm reactor in CFBR
were 4.0 kg COD/(m3 d), 3.4 kg COD/(m3 d), 2.6 kg COD/(m3 d),
2.4 kg COD/(m3 d) and 2.0 kg COD/(m3 d) corresponding to aeration
time of 32 min, 40 min, 52 min, 60 min and 70 min (Fig. 2) when
COD mean value of the influent was calculated by 200 mg/l.
3.1. COD removal
COD levels at each section during the experiment are shown in
Fig. 3, which indicate that COD removal efficiency in this study was
good and total efficiency of COD removal (i.e. biofilm plus filtration
removal effect) in CFBR was 90.6% (average value) at different
organic volumetric loading rates. Despite a significant COD fluctu-
ation of the influent, the CFBR effluent remains at a fairly stable
COD. As was expected, COD concentration of the filter effluent had
satisfied discharge standard of pollutants for Municipal Waste-
water Treatment Plant, China (GB 18918-2002).
Fig. 3 also shows that the average removal efficiencies of biofilm
layer and filtration bed layer at different organic volumetric loading
rates are 85.1% and 5.6%, respectively (i.e. 4.0, 3.4, 2.6, 2.4 and 2.0 kg
COD/(m3 d) mean removal efficiency). The test results indicate that
biological degradation of the Biofilm layer is the main cause for
COD attenuation in CFBR. As well, biofilm layer can tolerate COD
fluctuations in the receiving wastewater. This phenomenon may be
ascribed to porous polyacrylonitrile balls with characteristic of high
porosity and large specific surface area. These characteristics are
adaptable to an attached growth process. Comparatively, filtration
bed is mainly used for filtration separation in order to ensure that
COD value of the filter effluent can satisfy the discharge standard
demand. Filtration bed also has a function to form small bubbles. In
3
Organic volumetric loading rate kg COD/ m .d
4.0 3.4 2.6 2.4 2.0
400 100
COD removal efficiency (%)
350
COD concentration (mg/l)
80
300 Influent
Biofilm effluent
250 Filter effluent
60
Total removal
200 efficiency
150 40
100
20
50
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time (d)
Fig. 3. Variation of COD at different organic volumetric loading rates in the CFBR.
1240 Z.H. Li et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2010) 1237–1242

this way, the whole system can achieve a homogeneous distribu- Organic volumetric loading rate kg COD/ m .d
3

tion when the gas from air compressor goes through filtration bed. 2.0
4.0 3.4 2.6 2.4
In addition, the CFBR system is operated in the down-flow mode. 60 80

TN removal efficiency (%)

The polyacrylonitrile balls layer first mixes with feed water and 70
degrades organic matter. Thus, biofilm layer provides the great 50

mass of contaminant removal. Those degradable organic matters
are utilized by microbe, and residual difficult degradable and non-
degradable matters may gradually become a part of the biofilm or
are intercepted by filtration bed.
3.2. Nitrogen removal
The time course of NHþ 4 -N and TN at different organic volu-
metric loading rates is shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The total efficiencies
of NHþ 4 -N and TN removal in the CFBR were 81.4% and 64.6%
(average value) at different organic volumetric loading rates,
respectively. NHþ 4 -N and TN value of the CFBR effluent (Filter
effluent) had both satisfied discharge standard of pollutants for
Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant, China (GB 18918-2002).
The data shown in Fig. 4 indicate that NHþ 4 -N levels of the
influent are fairly stable compared to COD variation of influent
during the experiment. And a decreased organic volumetric loading
rate shows no significant improvement on NHþ 4 -N removal.
Conversely, the removal efficiencies of NHþ 4 -N fall gently at the end
of the experiment. These results are a consequence of the
temperature sensitivity of the nitrifying bacteria in the system. The
nitrifying bacteria belong to the mesophilic autotrophic bacteria,
which are pronounced activity between at 25 and 30  C (Liu and
Capdeville, 1996). At the end of the experiment, the feed water
temperature fell down due to seasonal change, which led to a slight
removal efficiency of NHþ 4 -N decrease. As analyzed from Fig. 4, the
average efficiency of NHþ 4 -N removal in biofilm layer and filtration
bed layer is 64.8% and 16.6% at different organic volumetric loading
rates, respectively. The phenomena indicate that the primary
nitrification occurred in upper layer during the experiment, in
which active nitrifying bacteria of an attached growth existed.
Fig. 5 shows that TN varied from 20.2 to 31.7 mg/l in influent and
from 5.0 to 12.6 mg/l in effluent. The average TN of influent and
effluent was 24.7 and 8.7 mg/l, respectively. The mass balance
would show overall loss of nitrogen, which would logically be
assumed to be simultaneous nitrification–denitrification (SND) in
attached growth biofilm (Gao et al., 2009). In the system, DO and
substrate concentration grads and aeration ON/OFF electromag-
netic valve result in different microenvironments formation in
attached growth biofilm, which make SND takes place (Daniel et al.,
2009). SND is relevant to the amount and activity of anaerobic
Organic volumetric loading rate kg COD/ m .d
4.0 3.4 2.6 2.4
40
NH4 -N concentration (mg/l)
TN concentration (mg/l)
60
40
Influent Total removal efficiency 50
Biofilm effluent Filter effluent
30 40
30
20
20
10
10
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time (d)
Fig. 5. Variation of TN at different organic volumetric loading rates in the CFBR.
microorganisms, which indirectly controlled by the thickness of
anaerobic layers in attached growth biofilm (Wang et al., 2008). The
longer operation of the CFBR before backwash procedure leads to
abundant biomass and thick biofilm, which strengthens biological
assimilation. Moreover, less surplus biomass or sludge is produced
during the operational period, which thus results in high sludge age
of the whole system. So the CFBR can maintain high biomass
concentration and encourage the culture of slow growing nitrifying
bacteria (Simpson, 2008). On the whole, the CFBR is provided with
high removal efficiency of nitrogen.
3.3. TP removal
The efficiencies of TP removal in biofilm layer and filtration bed
layer during the experiment are shown in Table 2. TP removal in the
CFBR was 60.1% (average value), and maximal efficiency of TP
removal was 63.0% at different organic volumetric loading rates. TP
value of the final effluent was 1 mg/l. The results show that the
system may be not available in phosphorus removal. Also, organic
volumetric loading rates do not significantly influence TP removal.
The CFBR may reach its limit of TP removal under the experimental
conditions. Partial TP removal is due to the normal absorption of
microorganisms’ growth.
Available methods to improve phosphorus removal of the CFBR
are to introduce as following: (1) Installing bagger and mud valve.
The bagger and mud valve are installed according to the lowest
water lever (H2) of the CFBR body location. And then the system will
work in the periodic and proper quantities mud discharge mode.
(2) Utilizing subsequent enhanced chemical phosphorus removal
3 (Hood and Randall, 2001). It requires further investigation to study
whether or not an effective phosphorus removal of the CFBR can
2.0
100 take place under the above-mentioned methods.

NH4 -N removal efficiency (%)

35
80 3.4. Turbidity removal
+

30
25 60 In the final effluent of CFBR, SS is not always detected due to the
20 high SS removal during the experiment. Also, in view of wastewater
Influent Total removal efficiency reuse, turbidity is recognized as the measure of relative clarity of
15 40
Biofilm effluent Filter effluent experimental samples. Fig. 6 reflects the variation trend of turbidity
10 levels at different organic volumetric loading rates. The total effi-
20
+

ciency of turbidity removal in the CFBR was 96.7% (average value) at

5
different organic volumetric loading rates. Furthermore, CFBR
0 0 effluent with a perfect aesthetic characteristic satisfies the standard
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time (d) for domestic reuse in China.
Similarly, it is obvious that the turbidity of CFBR effluent
Fig. 4. Variation of NHþ
4 -N at different organic volumetric loading rates in the CFBR. remained at a fairly stable level even though there was a significant
 Z.H. Li et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2010) 1237–1242 1241

Table 2
TP removal efficiency in the CFBR.

Organic volumetric loading Influent Biofilm effluent Filtration effluent TP removal of TP removal Total efficiency
rate (kg COD/(m3 d)) TP (mg/l) TP (mg/l) TP (mg/l) biofilm (%) of filtration (%) of TP removal (%)
4.0 1.92–2.86 (2.45)a 1.30–1.93 (1.58)a 0.91–1.43 (1.25)a 35.45 21.33 56.79
3.4 2.12–3.34 (2.52)a 1.26–1.92 (1.61)a 0.79–1.57 (1.32)a 36.64 24.31 60.94
2.6 2.23–3.45 (2.68)a 1.34–1.97 (1.66)a 0.72–1.31 (1.13)a 38.13 24.89 63.02
2.4 2.13–3.21 (2.69)a 1.29–2.10 (1.55)a 0.64–1.32 (1.15)a 40.79 21.31 62.10
2.0 2.13–2.75 (2.58)a 1.41–1.80 (1.62)a 0.78–1.28 (1.27)a 36.48 21.01 57.50
a
The numbers in the brackets are arithmetic average values.

turbidity fluctuation in the influent during the experiment. These
results confirm that the whole system shows a stronger resistance
to influent shock load. In addition, the peak of turbidity removal
(97.5%) occurred at organic volumetric loading rate of 2.4 kg COD/
(m3 d). The final filtration effluent maintained its turbidity less than
5 NTU for almost 77% of the time. In general, CFBR can provide
a consistent and stable effluent in terms of turbidity.
CFBR could be operated consistently for 7 d (14 d of the
maximum time) before a backwash procedure. The filter layer was
not blocked by release of the attached biofilm due to filtration
effluent time of only 12 min and a volumetric exchange rate of 30%
the total volume of treated wastewater in a cycle. On the other
hand, the anthracite coal filter layer could be expended and sus-
pended by ascending air bubble from the bottom of the CFBR in
aerobic reaction phase. So, the anthracite coal filter layer is a high-
efficient and stable solid–liquid separation method, which is
superior to sedimentation and dissolved air flotation processes. The
filtration bed is not simple physical filter but an attached and active
growth biofiltration bed, in which SS and dissolved colloid are
removed through biological flocculation, biological degradation
and particle attachment while flowing past the attached biofilm
(Srivastava and Majumder, 2007). Consequently, sludge filtration,
composed of free activated sludge, detached biofilm and granule
media, is used to diminish SS through slow and cake filtration,
which testifies sludge filtration is feasible to overcome the issue in
single biofilm process of higher effluent SS (Sorensen et al., 1995,
1996; Zhu et al., 2004).
3.5. Power consumption
In developing countries such as China, which a trade-off
between environmental protection and economical operation has
to be made based on the local socioeconomic situation, cost is more
important than other factors when choosing a process. Construc-
tion and operation cost are two important factors in evaluating
Organic volumetric loading rate kg COD/ m .d
4.0 3.4 2.6 2.4 2.0
400
a wastewater treatment process (Rodgers et al., 2003). And 60–90
percent of operation cost is electrical power consumption in
wastewater treatment. According to Lou’s study on power
consumption of municipal wastewater process, irrespective of
electrical power consumption of sludge digestion, the electrical
power consumption of WWTPs surveyed is 0.21–0.36 kWh/m3 of
wastewater treated in China during 2000–2004 (Lou, 2004).
As CFBR described, its construction cost is low due to a single
reactor of the whole system. And electrical power consumption of
CFBR system was 0.13–0.15 kWh/m3 of wastewater treated, and
1.37–1.50 kWh/kg BOD5 removals. Hence, compared with tradi-
tional secondary municipal wastewater treatment processes, the
cost of CFBR was very low. The results could be explained in two
following aspects. On the one hand, there is no sludge return
operation in CFBR process (Moawad et al., 2009). On the other
hand, the aspect ratio (i.e. height-to-diameter ratio) of CFBR is 21,
which has achieved good DO utilization ratio (Giovannettone et al.,
2009). Therefore, CFBR is capable of good power consumption.
4. Conclusions
A new contact oxidation filtration separation integrated biore-
actor (CFBR) was developed, which was composed of a Biofilm
reactor (the upper part of CFBR) and a gravitational filtration bed
(the lower part of CFBR). The upper layer was filled with porous
media as a biofilm reactor, the lower layer with anthracite coal as
a gravitational filtration bed. CFBR showed high-efficient removal
of COD, nitrogen and turbidity in a single reactor. The optimal
operation parameters of CFBR were determined as follows: aeration
time of 60 min, DO of 2–3 mg/l, organic volumetric loading rates of
2.4 kg/(m3 d) and initial filtration velocity of 5 m/h.
Good performance of CFBR was achieved under optimal opera-
tion parameters. The total efficiencies of COD, NHþ 4 -N, TN and
turbidity removal in CFBR were 90.6%, 81.4%, 64.6% and 96.7%
(average value). However, CFBR showed that it seemed not to be
available in phosphorus removal. Maximal efficiency of TP removal
3
was 63.0%. TP value of CFBR effluent was 1 mg/l. Installing bagger
and mud valve or utilizing subsequent enhanced chemical phos-
phorus removal may improve CFBR phosphorus removal. Electricity
100
power consumption of CFBR was very low, less than 0.15 kWh/m3
Turbidity removal efficiency (%)

350 of wastewater treated, and less than 1.5 kWh/kg BOD5 removals.
Influent 80
300 Biofilm effluent
Turbidity (NTU)

Filter effluent
250 Total removal efficiency Acknowledgments
60
200 The authors wish to thank the National Hi-Tech Research and
150 40 Development Program (863) of China (2005AA601010-01) for
100 support of this study.
20
50
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