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Heterotrophic-Autotrophic Denitrification

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Study on Heterotrophic-Autotrophic Denitrification Permeable Reactive Barriers (HAD PRBs) for In Situ Groundwater Remediation

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Water Science and Technology ((BRIEFSWATER))

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Abstract

A novel heterotrophic-autotrophic denitrification (HAD) approach supported by granulated spongy iron, pine bark and mixed bacteria was proposed for remediation of nitrate contaminated groundwater in an aerobic environment. The HAD involves biological deoxygenation, chemical reduction (CR) of nitrate and dissolved oxygen (DO), heterotrophic denitrification (HD) and autotrophic denitrification (AD). The experimental results showed 0.121 d, 0.142 d and 1.905 d were needed to completely remove DO by HAD, spongy iron and mixed bacteria respectively. Spongy iron played a dominant role in deoxygenation in the HAD. After 16 days, NO3-N removal was approximately 100, 6.2, 83.1, 4.5 % by HAD, CR, HD, AD, respectively. CR, HD and AD all contributed to the overall removal of NO3-N, but HD was the most important denitrification mechanism. There existed symbiotic, synergistic and promotive effects of CR, HD and AD within the HAD. The different environmental parameters (e.g. water temperature) showed different effects on HAD. HAD was capable of providing steady denitrification rate (1.233–1.397 mg/L/d) for 3.5 months. Pine bark could provide sufficient organic carbon, spongy iron could steadily remove DO, and microbial activity maintained relatively constant. HAD denitrification was zero order with a reaction rate constant (K) of 1.3220 mg/L/d.

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Abbreviations

ACS:

American Chemical Society

AD:

Autotrophic denitrification

BD:

Biological denitrification

BET:

Brunauer-Emmett-Teller

CR:

Chemical reduction

DO:

Dissolved oxygen

DNRA:

Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium

HAD:

Heterotrophic-autotrophic denitrification

HD:

Heterotrophic denitrification

HRT:

Hydraulic retention time

MDR:

Maximum denitrification rate

MNPR:

Maximum NO3-N percent removal

PRB:

Permeable reactive barrier

RO:

Reverse osmosis

TOC:

Total organic carbon

ZVI:

Zero-valent iron

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. China University of Geosciences, 29 Xueyuan Road, 100083, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Fei Liu

  2. Beijing Academy of Food Sciences, 70 Yangqiao, 100068, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Guoxin Huang

  3. Flinders University, Sturt Road, Adelaide, 5001, Australia

    Howard Fallowfield & Huade Guan

  4. Geological Publishing House, 31 Xueyuan Road, 100083, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Lingling Zhu

  5. Institute of Heilongjiang Province, Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology Prospecting, 29 Diantan Street, 150030, Harbin, People’s Republic of China

    Hongyan Hu

Authors
  1. Fei Liu
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  2. Guoxin Huang
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  3. Howard Fallowfield
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  4. Huade Guan
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  5. Lingling Zhu
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  6. Hongyan Hu
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Correspondence to Fei Liu .

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Liu, F., Huang, G., Fallowfield, H., Guan, H., Zhu, L., Hu, H. (2014). Heterotrophic-Autotrophic Denitrification. In: Study on Heterotrophic-Autotrophic Denitrification Permeable Reactive Barriers (HAD PRBs) for In Situ Groundwater Remediation. SpringerBriefs in Water Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38154-6_2

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