Abstract
Soils in the San Joaquin Valley of California have been a source of selenium (Se) release through dissolution into agricultural drainage, requiring treatment before discharge to the environment. A full-scale primarily anaerobic, granular activated-carbon (GAC) bioreactor with an empty bed contact time ranging from 3.4 to 5.0 h was fed of second-pass agricultural drainage water (ADW) at the San Luis Demonstration Treatment Plant (SLDTP) in Firebaugh, California, for 1,062 days. This study summarized startup of an actual water treatment plant with a process scheme that had never been designed or operated at this scale. ADW nitrate () and dissolved oxygen () concentrations largely dictated the externally dosed carbon (EDC), or glycerin dose, which served as the electron donor to achieve selenate () reduction to elemental Se (). Total Se () influent concentrations between 111 and were treated to average effluent concentrations of across the bioreactor. Bioreactor effluent concentrations were further reduced across a downstream ultrafiltration membrane system (UFMS) to an average permeate concentration of . It was determined that most of the removed from the ADW was retained on the bioreactor GAC and was not amenable to removal through backwashing, rendering it hazardous waste by both California and federal standards. Removal of other trace metals such as chromium and uranium were investigated.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This work was conducted through funding provided by the Bureau of Reclamation South Central California Area Office. The authors would like to thank Leah Flint for her contributions to the data analysis for the bioreactor selenium accumulation. The authors would like to thank Sheryl Carter and Michael Jackson with the South-Central California Area Office for project support.
Disclaimer
The views, analysis, recommendations, and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not represent official or unofficial policies or opinions of the United States government and the United States government takes no position with regard to any findings, conclusions, or recommendations made. As such, mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the United States government.
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Received: Sep 7, 2021
Accepted: Dec 18, 2021
Published online: Mar 9, 2022
Published in print: May 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Aug 9, 2022
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