Development of biofilm on geotextile in a new multi-zone wastewater treatment system for simultaneous removal of COD, nitrogen and phosphorus

This study investigated the formation and evolution of biofilm on a fixed cylindrical structure wrapped in geotextile, in a multi-zone wastewater treatment system called BioCAST. The organic, nitrogen and phosphorus loading rates of (OLR) 0.95–1.86 g COD/(m3 d), (NLR) 0.02–0.08 kg N/(m3 d), and (PLR) 0.014–0.02 kg P/(m3 d), were applied. The results demonstrated high removal efficiencies of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, reaching 98.9%, 98.3% and 94.1%, respectively, after 250 d of operation. The biofilm biomass showed a fast formation (reaching 54.2 g/L) and maximum phosphorus content of about 7% (dry basis). Biofilm demonstrated the ability to remove phosphorus, and its characteristics correlated with nitrogen and phosphorus removal rates. The geotextile material with filamentous structure causing rapid attachment and formation of biofilm can solve many problems encountered in conventional attached-growth wastewater treatment systems such as slow start-up, low reactor biomass content and low capacity to handle high organic loading rates.