Patent ID: 8715503

Claim:
A method of treating a wastewater stream comprising one or more inorganic salts, the method comprising: introducing the wastewater stream into a bioreactor, wherein the bioreactor comprises one or more substrates and one or more bacteria coupled to one or more of the substrates, wherein one or more of the bacteria are capable of reducing contaminants in a wastewater stream comprising one or more inorganic salts at a concentration of at least 0.5% by weight; contacting the wastewater stream with the bacteria in the bioreactor; removing at least a portion of the contacted wastewater stream from the bioreactor, wherein the concentration of contaminants in the removed portion of the contacted wastewater stream is less than the initial concentration of contaminants in the wastewater stream, wherein one or more of the bioreactors further comprise an oxygen inlet conduit and a diffuser coupled to the oxygen inlet conduit, wherein the method further comprises passing oxygen through the oxygen inlet conduit into the diffuser and through the diffuser into the bioreactor.