As humic substances left in treated water tend to form trihalomethans during chlorination, their removal in water treatment processes is a significant concern for drinking water supplies. One of the removal technologies, the biofilm reactor is studied for the microbial decomposition of aquatic fulvic acid (AFA). The AFA is characterized by elemental analysis. UV-Vis, 13C-NMR, and IR spectroscopic methods. The spectroscopic and elemental investigation was capable of characterizing the microbial decomposition of AFA. Biologically treated fulvic acid was in a more oxidized state; its spectra displayed a higher degree of condensation of aromatic constituents than influent fulvic acid. Microbial degradation of AFA was more active in the low molecular weight fractions and intensively occurred in the aliphatic fraction.
A pilot plant of SBR (Sequencing Batch Reactor) and MF (microfiltration) process was operated in order to treat and reuse the greywater produced from an office building. The performance of SBR for greywater was satisfactory as the effluent had 20 mg/l, 5 mg/l, and 0.5 mg/l of SCOD, BOD, and ammonia, respectively. The cyclic operation of SBR used in this study proved more effective in nitrification and denitrification than the conventional SBR operation. However, the most effective mode was step-feed SBR for denitrification. The decanting system of this SBR discharged the effluent fairly well without sludge washout. However, it was difficult to maintain constant concentration of suspended solid from the SBR process. Thus, additional filtration was needed to get adequate water quality for water reuse. MF could remove residual suspended solids and pathogens as well from the SBR effluent. The suspended solids of final effluent were around 1 mg/l and allowed using the treated water for some purposes.
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