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Treatment of regenerated papermaking wastewater by sequencing batch moving bed biofilm reactor and kinetics study

  • Jingran Peng ORCID logo , Yi Hou , Xiaoming Liu and Lirong Lei EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: September 8, 2025
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Abstract

This study evaluated the use of three Sequencing Batch Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (SBMBBR) with Mutag biochip 30™ (MB) carriers for treating regenerated papermaking wastewater. The reactors operated at filling ratios of 15 % (MB15), 30 % (MB30), and 45 % (MB45). Biomass stabilized after 30 days, reaching 2.26 g/L, 4.01 g/L, and 5.58 g/L, respectively. The process parameters of the reactors were optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Under conditions of a C/N ratio of 21:1, an aeration rate (AR) of 2.65 L/min, a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 9 h, and a 45 % filling ratio, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of the wastewater achieved the highest value of 68.28 ± 2.03 %, with the average effluent COD reduced to approximately 170 mg/L while ammonia nitrogen and total nitrogen were below 10 mg/L and 15 mg/L, meeting the discharge standards for recycled paper mill wastewater in China. Kinetic analysis using an improved Stover-Kincannon model showed good fitting (R2 > 0.93) and the highest degradation rate (Umax) of 2.6413 g/Lday in the MB45 reactor. These results support SBMBBR’s potential for treating papermaking wastewater and addressing challenges in other industrial wastewater treatments.


Corresponding author: Lirong Lei, College of Light Industry Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China, E-mail:

Funding source: Lirong Lei

Award Identifier / Grant number: 2021A1515010645

Award Identifier / Grant number: 2022B0202020002

Award Identifier / Grant number: 2024A1515011586

Award Identifier / Grant number: G2023163008L

Funding source: Liu Xiaoming

Award Identifier / Grant number: G2023163008L

  1. Research ethics: The local Institutional Review Board deemed the study exempt from review.

  2. Informed consent: Not applicable.

  3. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.

  5. Conflict of interest: All other authors state no conflict of interest.

  6. Research funding: This work was supported by the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation under Grant [2024A1515011586], Science and Technology Project of Guizhou Provincial Education Department (Grant Nos. [2023]096), the National Foreign Expert Project under Grant [G2023163008L], the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province under Grant [2021A1515010645], and the Key Project of Research and Development Plan of Guangdong Province under Grant [2022B0202020002].

  7. Data availability: Not applicable.

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Received: 2024-09-24
Accepted: 2025-08-17
Published Online: 2025-09-08

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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