The potential of biofilms from moving bed bioreactors to increase the efficiency of textile industry wastewater treatment

Textile industry processes produce some of the most heavily polluted wastewater worldwide. Wastewater from textile industry is also highly variable (it varies with time and among factories) and contains wide diversity of pollutants. This makes the treatment of textile industry effluents, complex, site-specific and expensive. Numerous combinations of wastewater treatment technologies are currently applied in the textile industry, yet methods that work for one emitter are often unsuitable, insufficient, not necessary or unsustainable to another. As textile industry evolves, its water treatment research also has to keep pace with increasing demands. The broader aim of the textile industry wastewater treatment is to maximize the efficiency of pollutant removal, while releasing effluents that society considers as being environmentally acceptable or safe. In the last ten years great strides have been made in the ability to lower the biological oxygen demand (BOD) and ammonium (NH4+) in wastewater. These advances elicit the question: can intensifying the usage of such technologies in the textile industry also increase its efficiency? The research team analysed water treatment by aerobic biomineralization via microbial biofilms immobilized on solid surfaces and hosted in Moving Bed Bio-Reactors (MBBRs). These biofilms are selected for carbon oxidation and ammonia oxidation. The authors compare the potential of active sludge biotreatment with the performance of MBBRs. The results are used to evaluate the potential of MBBRs as a cost-reducing solution in textile wastewater treatment plants. Our analysis supports that upgrading such stations to more heavily usage of MBBR biotechnology would increase their sustainability and environmental friendliness. The authors also discuss research directions and milestones for expanding the effects of MBBRs on the textile industry wastewater treatment.