Assessing the performance of modified waste cotton cloth (MWCC) installed in a biological contact reactor as a biofilm carrier used for domestic wastewater treatment

Abstract

The current study examined the performance of modified waste cotton cloth (MWCC) in the removal of organic pollutants from domestic wastewater as an emerging technique for waste textile resource management and reuse. The MWCC biofilm carrier was self-made with discarded cotton cloths cut into smaller strips with 66 cm long and average weight of 2.4 g each. The surface of the non-modified waste cotton cloth (NM-WCC) was modified through the hydro-sulphuric acid (H2SO4) method to enhance the physical characteristics of the material such as hydrophilicity and biofilm attachment. The best filling rate of the carrier used for the experiment was 65% as determined by preliminary studies. Two self-made biological contact biofilm reactors: R1 (installed with NM-WCC) and R2 (fixed with MWCC), were used for the experiment. The experimental results showed that MWCC had higher removal efficacy of chemical oxygen demand, ammonia–nitrogen (NH4+–N) and total phosphorus (TP) at 98.34%, 85.44% and 60.20%, respectively. The hydraulic retention time decreased from 21 to 8 h on the 4th day. The scanning electron microscope was used to analyse the surface characteristics of the NM-WCC and MWCC. The water-holding capacity of the biofilm carriers was determined through the static immersion method and ASTM D1117-80 guiding principles. The water contact angle was estimated through the static process by adapting Young’s equation. The findings of this research could significantly contribute to the discovering of alternative innovative technological prospects of utilizing H2SO4 MWCC as an effective biofilm carrier in domestic wastewater treatment.