Impact of Tourmaline on Biofilm Morphology, Structure and Performance in Sequencing Batch Biofilm Reactors

In order to strengthen the activity of biofilm on the surface of fillers, the polyurethane foam loaded tourmaline (TPU) filler was prepared to use waterborne polyurethane as medium in this experiment. The results showed that tourmaline into the polyurethane foam can optimize number of polar groups on surface of fillers and buffer pH in the solution. COD and ammonium removal efficiency was higher in reactor 1 filled with TPU fillers than in reactor 2 filled with PU fillers (91.5% and 95.9% in the former, compared with 88.4% and 79.3% in the latter). Through biofilm composition analysis, the amount of polysaccharides was similar in each biofilm at around 60 mg/ g VSS, while proteins were much higher in reactor 1 filled with TPU carriers at the 30th day (80 mg /g VSS in reactor 1 and 60 mg /g VSS in reactor 2).