Strategy for repurposing waste anion exchange resins to construct a biofilter for removing dissolved organic matter: performance and mechanism

IF 11.4 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL

Water Research Pub Date : 2025-04-21 DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2025.123687

Xingqi Zhu, Lu Jiang, Yechao Tian, Leyi Wang, Yang Pan, Wentao Li, Aimin Li

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Abstract

Anion exchange resins are widely employed in wastewater and drinking water treatment plants to remove dissolved organic matter (DOM). However, the degradation of resin performance necessitates the discontinuation of these treatment projects, resulting in the idling of underperforming resins, referred to as waste anion exchange resins (WAER). Given the substantial investment in operational costs, determining how to economically utilize WAER is essential for restarting the treatment projects. Therefore, this study proposed a strategy for repurposing WAER to construct a biofilter for DOM removal. A biofilter, termed biological anion exchange resin (BAER), was developed using WAER and compared with two conventional biofilters: biological activated carbon (BAC) and sand filter. After the acclimatization period, the BAER biofilter achieved a removal of up to 21.42 % of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), which is 5.8 times greater than the removal rate of the sand filter and comparable to the BAC. Notably, BAER exhibited the highest removal rate of aromatics, achieving 41.04 % UV₂₅₄ removal, which are precursors to disinfection byproducts (DBPs). Consequently, BAER demonstrated superior control of DBPs, with a removal efficiency of 39.59 %. Additionally, BAER demonstrated effective removal of humic substances due to the bioregeneration of its adsorption sites, which led to significant differences in both the structural composition and functional expression of the biological community in BAER compared to other biofilters. This study also revealed that the bioregenerated adsorption sites primarily capture DOM through electrostatic attraction rather than ion exchange. Overall, these findings confirm the promising application of the BAER biofilter constructed with WAER and offer valuable insights into the associated removal processes.

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利用废弃阴离子交换树脂构建生物滤池以去除溶解有机物的策略：性能和机制

废水和饮用水处理厂广泛使用阴离子交换树脂来去除溶解有机物（DOM）。然而，由于树脂性能退化，这些处理项目不得不中止，导致性能不佳的树脂闲置，被称为废阴离子交换树脂（WAER）。鉴于运营成本投资巨大，确定如何经济地利用 WAER 对于重新启动处理项目至关重要。因此，本研究提出了一种将 WAER 重新用于建造生物滤池以去除 DOM 的策略。利用 WAER 开发了一种生物滤池（称为生物阴离子交换树脂 (BAER)），并与两种传统生物滤池（生物活性炭 (BAC) 和砂滤器）进行了比较。经过适应期后，BAER 生物过滤器对溶解有机碳 (DOC) 的去除率高达 21.42%，是砂滤器去除率的 5.8 倍，与生物活性炭相当。值得注意的是，BAER 对芳烃的去除率最高，UV254 的去除率达到 41.04%，而芳烃是消毒副产物 (DBP) 的前体。因此，BAER 对 DBPs 的控制能力更强，去除率达到 39.59%。此外，由于 BAER 吸附位点的生物再生作用，BAER 能有效去除腐殖质，与其他生物过滤器相比，BAER 中生物群落的结构组成和功能表达均有显著差异。这项研究还发现，生物再生吸附位点主要通过静电吸引而不是离子交换来捕获 DOM。总之，这些发现证实了用 WAER 建造的 BAER 生物过滤器的应用前景，并为相关的去除过程提供了宝贵的见解。

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来源期刊

Water Research 环境科学-工程：环境

CiteScore

20.80

自引率

9.40%

发文量

1307

审稿时长

38 days

期刊介绍： Water Research, along with its open access companion journal Water Research X, serves as a platform for publishing original research papers covering various aspects of the science and technology related to the anthropogenic water cycle, water quality, and its management worldwide. The audience targeted by the journal comprises biologists, chemical engineers, chemists, civil engineers, environmental engineers, limnologists, and microbiologists. The scope of the journal include: •Treatment processes for water and wastewaters (municipal, agricultural, industrial, and on-site treatment), including resource recovery and residuals management; •Urban hydrology including sewer systems, stormwater management, and green infrastructure; •Drinking water treatment and distribution; •Potable and non-potable water reuse; •Sanitation, public health, and risk assessment; •Anaerobic digestion, solid and hazardous waste management, including source characterization and the effects and control of leachates and gaseous emissions; •Contaminants (chemical, microbial, anthropogenic particles such as nanoparticles or microplastics) and related water quality sensing, monitoring, fate, and assessment; •Anthropogenic impacts on inland, tidal, coastal and urban waters, focusing on surface and ground waters, and point and non-point sources of pollution; •Environmental restoration, linked to surface water, groundwater and groundwater remediation; •Analysis of the interfaces between sediments and water, and between water and atmosphere, focusing specifically on anthropogenic impacts; •Mathematical modelling, systems analysis, machine learning, and beneficial use of big data related to the anthropogenic water cycle; •Socio-economic, policy, and regulations studies.