| Title: | Enhanced biological removal of intermittent VOCs and deciphering the roles of sodium alginate and polyvinyl alcohol in biofilm formation |
| Author(s): | Feng R; Zhao G; Yang Y; Xu M; Huang S; Sun G; Guo J; Li J; |
| Address: | "School of Bioscience and Bioengineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, PR China. Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, Guangzhou, PR China. State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangzhou, PR China. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangzhou, PR China. School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, PR China" |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0217401 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1932-6203 (Electronic) 1932-6203 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Developing a robust biofilm is a prerequisite for a biotrickling filter to obtain the good performance in removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs). But the biofilm formation can be seriously disturbed under intermittent loading condition due to carbon starvation stress in idle time. In this study, a biotrickling filter, with its packing materials being modified by 3% sodium alginate and 5% polyvinyl alcohol (v/v = 1:3), was employed to treat intermittent VOCs. Results showed that the removal efficiencies of toluene, ethylbenzene, p-xylene, m-xylene, and o-xylene was significantly enhanced in the BTF compared to the control one. Under relatively lower inlet loading, nearly complete removal of the five pollutants was achieved. A quantitative analysis showed that the concentration of total organic compound (TOC) in the leachate maintained at a high level, and had a strongly positive correlation with the divergence of microbial communities. The capacity of biofilm formation in the BTF was approximately four-fold higher than the control BTF, while the quantity of EPS secreted was more than ten-fold. EPS comprised largely of protein, and to less extent, polysaccharide. The biofilm formed on the modified packing materials maintained higher levels of microbial diversity and stability, even when modifiers were complete depleted or the VOCs inlet loading was increased. This study highlights the importance of packing materials for reducing the gap in performance between laboratory and industrial applications of BTFs" |
| Keywords: | "Alginates *Biodegradation, Environmental *Biofilms/growth & development Filtration Microbial Consortia/genetics/physiology Polyvinyl Alcohol RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics Volatile Organic Compounds/*isolation & purification;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineFeng, Rongfang Zhao, Gang Yang, Yonggang Xu, Meiying Huang, Shaobin Sun, Guoping Guo, Jun Li, Jianjun eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2019/05/23 PLoS One. 2019 May 22; 14(5):e0217401. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217401. eCollection 2019" |
