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Heterogeneity of microbial community structures inside the up-flow biological activated carbon (BAC) filters for the treatment of drinking water

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Abstract

Filtration using biological activated carbon (BAC) performs well in the removal of biodegradable dissolved organic carbon from water sources. The application of ozonation followed by up-flow BAC filtration has gained increasing attention in the world scale. In this study, a pilotscale up-flow BAC filtration system was constructed for the treatment of polluted lake water. The operational results indicated that this BAC filtration system could effectively remove organic matter. Spatial heterogeneity of the microbial community structure inside the BAC filtration system was identified using bacterial 16S rRNA clone library analysis. A marked decrease of microbial diversity in the BAC filtration system was observed along the flow path. Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Acidobacteria were found to be the major bacterial groups in the BAC filters. Moreover, Novosphingobium aromaticivorans-like microorganisms were detected. This work might add some new insights towards microbial communities in regards to BAC filtration for the treatment of drinking water.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Bei**g, 100-084, China

    **aobin Liao, Chao Chen & **aojian Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences (Ministry of Education), College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Bei**g, 100-871, China

    Chih-Hsiang Chang, Zhao Wang & Shuguang **e

Authors
  1. **aobin Liao
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  2. Chao Chen
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  3. Chih-Hsiang Chang
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  4. Zhao Wang
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  5. **aojian Zhang
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  6. Shuguang **e
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Correspondence to Shuguang **e.

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Liao, X., Chen, C., Chang, CH. et al. Heterogeneity of microbial community structures inside the up-flow biological activated carbon (BAC) filters for the treatment of drinking water. Biotechnol Bioproc E 17, 881–886 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-012-0127-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-012-0127-x

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