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 textileindustry is also highly variable (it varies with time and among factories) and contains wide diversity of pollutants. Thismakes the treatment of textile industry effluents, complex, site-specific and expensive. Numerous combinations ofwastewater treatment technologies are currently applied in the textile industry, yet methods that work for one emitter areoften unsuitable, insufficient, not necessary or unsustainable to another. As textile industry evolves, its water treatmentresearch also has to keep pace with increasing demands. The broader aim of the textile industry wastewater treatmentis to maximize the efficiency of pollutant removal, while releasing effluents that society considers as beingenvironmentally acceptable or safe. In the last ten years great strides have been made in the ability to lower thebiological oxygen demand (BOD) and ammonium (NH4+) in wastewater. These advances elicit the question: canintensifying the usage of such technologies in the textile industry also increase its efficiency? The research teamanalysed water treatment by aerobic biomineralization via microbial biofilms immobilized on solid surfaces and hostedin Moving Bed Bio-Reactors (MBBRs). These biofilms are selected for carbon oxidation and ammonia oxidation. Theauthors compare the potential of active sludge biotreatment with the performance of MBBRs. The results are used toevaluate the potential of MBBRs as a cost-reducing solution in textile wastewater treatment plants. Our analysissupports that upgrading such stations to more heavily usage of MBBR biotechnology would increase their sustainabilityand environmental friendliness. The authors also discuss research directions and milestones for expanding the effectsof MBBRs on the textile industry wastewater treatment.