Short and long term biosorption of silica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles in heterotrophic biofilms

摘要

The increased application of engineered nanoparticles (ENP) in industrial processes and consumer products has raised concerns about their impart on health and environmental safety. When ENP enter the global water cycle by e.g. wastewater streams, wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) represent potential sinks for ENP. During biological WWT, the attachment of ENP to biofilms is responsible for the desired removal of ENP from the water phase avoiding their release into the aquatic environment. However, the fundamental mechanisms guiding the interactions between ENP and biofilms are not yet fully understood. Therefore, this study investigates the behavior and biosorption of inorganic ENP, here magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles coated with silica (scFe_3O_4-NP), with heterotrophic biofilms at different time scales. Their magnetic properties enable to follow scFe_3O_4-NP in the biofilm system by a magnetic susceptibility balance and magnetic resonance imaging. Biofilms were exposed to scFe_3O_4-NP at short contact times (5 min) in flow cells and complementary, scFe_3O_4-NP were introduced into a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) to be observed for 27 d. Mass balances revealed that scFe_3O_4-NP sorbed to the biofilm within a few minutes, but that the total biosorption was rather low (3.2 μg Fe/mg TSS). scFe_3O_4-NP mainly sorted to the biofilm surface inducing the detachment of outer biofilm parts starting after an exposure time of 3 h in the MBBR. The biosorption depended on the exposure concentration of scFe_3O_4-NP, but less on the contact time. Most scFe_3O_4-NP exited the flow cell (up to 65%) and the MBBR (57%) via the effluent This effect was favored by the stabilization of scFe_3O_4-NP in the bulk liquid by organic matter leading to a low retention capacity of the MBBR system. The results contribute to improve our understanding about the fate of ENP in environmental and in technical biofilm systems and give indications for future investigations needed.