Microscopy and Molecular Methods to Advance Performance and Design of Hybrid Biofilm Technology

开发新技术以应对当今废水处理挑战的需要导致了创新的混合废水处理技术的设计。复合移动床生物膜反应器(MBBR)和曝气生物滤池(BAF)技术是将MBBR和上流式曝气生物滤池技术的优点结合到一个单一的混合系统中。特别是，混合MBBR-BAF被构思为将消耗容易降解的进水碳的异养种群与自养、除氨的种群分离。此外，还设想了杂交系统来减轻过度异养生长对曝气生物滤池的不利影响。本研究的科学方法是隔离关键操作和设计参数不仅对系统性能的影响，而且对MBBR-BAF组合工艺的双重基质上的生物膜和微生物群落的特性的影响。 拟议的研究计划将使用先进的显微镜和分子方法来彻底了解MBBR-BAF技术中的生物膜和微生物种群分布，并随后利用这些信息来优化该技术，以满足加拿大的废水处理需求。研究计划分为三个阶段：第一阶段将比较MBBR-BAF和常规上流式曝气生物滤池系统在加拿大夏季、冬季和融雪典型运行条件下的系统性能、生物膜特性和微生物群落；第二阶段将比较MBBR-BAF和常规上流式曝气生物滤池在不同碳氮、氨氮和固体负荷和速度升高率下的系统性能、生物膜特性和微生物群落，并随后优化混合系统的设计负荷和速度升高率；第三阶段将考察MBBR载体与曝气生物滤料的比例以及MBBR载体混合强度对混合系统的性能、生物膜特性和微生物群落的影响，并随后优化基质组成和MBBR载体运动。该研究计划的预期影响是优化一种新的废水处理技术，该技术是概念化的，以满足加拿大和世界目前面临的废水处理和水质保护的挑战。

The need to develop new technologies that meet the wastewater treatment challenges of today has led to the design of innovative hybrid wastewater treatment technologies. The hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) and biological aerated filter (BAF) technology has been conceived to combine the advantages of the MBBR with an upflow BAF technology into a single hybrid system. In particular, the hybrid MBBR-BAF has been conceived to separate the heterotrophic population that consumes the readily degradable influent carbon from the autotrophic, ammonia removal population. Further, the hybrid system has also been conceived to mitigate the adverse effects of excessive heterotrophic growth on BAF media. The scientific approach of this research program is to isolate the impact of critical operational and design parameters on not only the performance of the system but also on the characteristics of the biofilm and the microbial communities on the dual media of the MBBR-BAF hybrid technology. The proposed research program will use advanced microscopy and molecular methods to develop a thorough understanding of the biofilm and microbial population distribution in the MBBR-BAF technology and subsequently use this information to optimize the technology to meet the wastewater treatment needs of Canada. The research program is comprised of three phases: phase I will compare the system performance, biofilm characteristics and microbial communities of the hybrid MBBR-BAF and a conventional upflow BAF system across typical Canadian summer, winter and snow melt operational conditions; phase II will compare the system performance, biofilm characteristics and microbial communities of the hybrid MBBR-BAF and a conventional upflow BAF across various carbon, ammonia and solids loadings and velocity rise rates and subsequently optimize the design loading rates and velocity rise rates of the hybrid system; and phase III will investigate the effects of the percentage of MBBR carriers versus BAF media along with the effects of MBBR carrier mixing intensity on the performance, biofilm characteristics and microbial communities of the hybrid system and subsequently optimize the composition of media and MBBR carrier motion of the system. The anticipated impact of the research program is the optimization of a new wastewater treatment technology that is conceptualized to meet the current challenges facing wastewater treatment and the preservation of water quality in Canada and the world.