No abstract

The presence of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) in groundwater is an important concern in populations that use it as source of drinking water. The ingestion of high concentrations of these metals may affect human health. In addition, these metals cause aesthetic and organoleptic problems that affect water quality and also induce corrosion in distribution networks, generating operational and system maintenance problems. Biological sand filter systems are widely used to remove Fe and Mn from groundwater since they are a cost-effective technology and minimize the use of chemical oxidants. In this work, the bacterial communities of two biological water treatment plants from Argentina, exposed to long term presence of Mn(II) and with a high Mn(II) removal efficiency, were characterized using 16S rRNA gene Illumina sequencing. Several selective media were used to culture Mn-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) and a large number of known MOB and several isolates that have never been reported before as MOB were cultivated. These bacteria were characterized to select those with the highest Mn(II) oxidation and biofilm formation capacities and also those that can oxidize Mn(II) at different environmental growth conditions. In addition, studies were performed to determine if the selected MOB were able to oxidize Mn(II) present in groundwater while immobilized on sand. This work allowed the isolation of several bacterial strains adequate to develop an inoculum applicable to improve Mn(II) removal efficiency of sand filter water treatment plants.

No abstract

The ArCIS-UNR® arsenic and fluoride removal system which consists of a coagulation-adsorption process with initial pH adjustment and two filtration stages (up-flow gravel roughing filtration and rapid filtration), has been already described in previous studies. This process has been successfully implemented in full-scale plants in Argentina, with fluoride and total arsenic concentrations in raw water up to 2 mg/L and 200 μg/L, respectively. The aim of the present study is to optimize fluoride removal when it is >2.0 mg/L. The modifications proposed were to decrease the pH level to 6.4-6.6 at the roughing filter inlet and increase the pH level to 7.2-7.6 at the rapid filter inlet to decrease residual aluminum concentration. Laboratory and pilot scale studies were performed using natural water with fluoride concentrations ranging from 2.4 to 3.2 mg/L and arsenic concentrations from 60 to 90 μg/L. An optimal combination of operational parameters and the coagulant dose (polyaluminum chloride, PACl) was found, to achieve final concentrations of fluoride, arsenic and aluminum in treated water lower than those set by the regulations in force. Filtration run time was 10 to 12 hours; research studies are necessary to extend this period.

Waste based bacterial culture media and inoculum lyophilization to optimize bioaugmentation processes applicable to Mn groundwater full-scale biofiltration.