A membrane aerated biofilm reactor for sulfide control from anaerobically treated wastewater

ABSTRACT

A upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor was operated combined to a membrane aerated biofilm reactor for sulfate removal and for elemental sulfur reclamation. A commercial silicon tube was used as an oxygen delivery diffuser. The process achieved high rates of sulfide removal from the liquid phase (90%). The hydrogen sulfide removal was influenced by the pH value and at pH value of 7.5, 98% of the H₂S was removed. The elemental sulfur was observed inside the membrane, with content in the biomass of 21%. Through the massive sequencing of the samples, the microbial community diversity and the stratification of biomass inside the silicon tube was demonstrated, confirming the presence of sulfide-oxidizing bacteria on the membrane wall. The most important genera found related to the sulfur cycle were Sulfuricurvum, Geovibrio, Flexispira and Sulforospirillum.

KEYWORDS:

• Sulfide oxidation
• elemental sulfur
• microaeration
• silicon membrane
• high-throughput sequencing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Tiago Palladino Delforno http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1705-0763

Marcelo Zaiat http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7336-9093

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), project process numbers 2013/13131-6, 2011/22904-3 and 2009/15984-0. David Jeison would like to thank the CRHIAM Centre (CONICYT/FONDAP/15130015) for their support and the Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica de Chile for their financial support and national doctoral scholarship.