Construction waste as a filler of denitrification biofilter for nitrate utilization from wastewater: Characteristics, performance, microbial community and soilless culture

Yinzhou Bao; Lijing Bao; Nan Jiang; Xiaoyang Xu; Fan Yu; Haoyu Xing; Wenpei Ye; Peng Zhou; Yanbin Zhu; Shengyang Zheng; Manhong Huang

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2024.131514

Construction waste as a filler of denitrification biofilter for nitrate utilization from wastewater: Characteristics, performance, microbial community and soilless culture

Bioresour Technol. 2024 Sep 20:131514. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.131514. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Yinzhou Bao¹, Lijing Bao¹, Nan Jiang², Xiaoyang Xu¹, Fan Yu¹, Haoyu Xing¹, Wenpei Ye¹, Peng Zhou¹, Yanbin Zhu¹, Shengyang Zheng³, Manhong Huang⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
² School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Bengbu University, Bengbu 233030, China.
³ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225127, China.
⁴ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China; State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. Electronic address: huangmanhong@dhu.edu.cn.

PMID: 39307472
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.131514

Abstract

Construction waste (CW) is produced in large quantities, resulting in severe land occupation and resource depletion. This study utilized CW as fillers to construct a denitrification biofilter (DNBF-CW) for treating secondary effluent from wastewater plants. Performance and mechanism were analyzed by water quality, biomass and its distribution, physicochemical characteristics, microbial community structure, extracellular polymeric substances and protein secondary structure analysis. Results indicated that DNBF-CW achieve NO₃^--N and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies (RE) of 97 % and 70 %. The β-sheet of DNBF-CW increased from 47 % to 58 %, accompanied by decrease in random curls from 22 % to 0. Post-use CW showed potential as soilless cultivation substrates, boosting germination rates by 42 ± 7 %. Mechanism investigations elucidated that ZX3 improved efficiency by modulating microbial community composition, with Pseudomonas reaching 37 %. This study shows the multiple use of construction waste, which presents a novel, efficient, and eco-friendly solution for water treatment.

Keywords: Biological filter; Nitrogen removal; Soilless cultivation substrate; Solid waste utilization.