Optimization for Nitrogen Removal in Anoxic/Oxic⁃Membrane Bioreactor by Response Surface Methodology

The optimal operating condition for the total nitrogen(TN)removal in an anoxic/oxic⁃membrane reactor(A/O⁃MBR)was studied by employing response surface methodology(RSM),which is a statistical test method for optimizing stochastic processes.The individual and interactive influences of three operating parameters including dissolved oxygen in aerobic tank(DO),internal mixed liquor recycle rate(IR),and mixed liquor suspended solids(MLSS)on the TN removal efficiency were evaluated.TN removal efficiency increased first and then reduced with the increase of DO,IR,and MLSS.Results from RSM indicated that the three factors had significant interactive influences on the TN removal efficiency.Meanwhile,the interaction between DO and MLSS had more significant effects on the TN removal efficiency than those of the other two.The maximum TN removal efficiency was forecasted at 83.34%according to the model when MLSS was 7926.6 mg/L,IR was 371.8%,and DO was 3.5 mg/L.Under this optimum condition,the experimental TN removal efficiency was 83.13%,which further confirmed that the optimum strategy was reliable.

Effects of Aeration Rates and Patterns on Shortcut Nitrification and Denitrification

The effects of aeration rates and aeration patterns on the oxidation of ammonia-nitrogen into nitrite were investigated. The influent high ammonia-nitrogen synthetic wastewater resembled to those of the catalytic process of the petrochemical refinery. The method involved the biological shortcut nitrification and denitrification lab-scale’s sequencing batch reactor (SBR) process based on intermittent aerations and aeration patterns. All the operations were carried out in a 20 L working volume SBR bioreactor, and the influent synthetic wastewater’s concentration was always 1000 mg/L ammonia-nitrogen NH4-N concentration at a C/N (carbon/nitrogen) ratio of 2.5:1. Effective shortcut nitrification to nitrite was registered at 1.1 mg-O2/L (i.e. 9 L-air/min) with 99.1% nitrification efficiency, 99.0% nitritation rate and 2.6 mg-NO3--N/L nitrate concentration. The best results with 99.3% nitrification efficiency were recorded when operating at 1.4 mg-O2/L (i.e. 12 L-air/min). According to these experiments, it results that the nitrite accumulation rate was related to aeration rate and cycle’s duration. However, at 1.7 mg-O2/L (i.e. 15 L-air/min), the system was limited by an increase in nitrate concentration with more than 5 mg/L which could be a point of reverse to conventional nitrification. The best total nitrogen (TN) removal was about 71.5%.

Enhancing nitrogen removal from low carbon to nitrogen ratio wastewater by using a novel sequencing batch biofilm reactor

Removing nitrogen from wastewater with low chemical oxygen demand/total nitrogen （COD/TN） ratio is a difficult task due to the insufficient carbon source available for denitrification. Therefore, in the present work, a novel sequencing batch biofilm reactor （NSBBR） was developed to enhance the nitrogen removal from wastewater with low COD/ TN ratio. The NSBBR was divided into two units separated by a vertical clapboard. Alternate feeding and aeration was performed in the two units, which created an anoxie unit with rich substrate content and an aeration unit deficient in substrate simultaneously. Therefore, the utilization of the influent carbon source for denitrification was increased, leading to higher TN removal compared to conventional SBBR （CSBBR） operation. The results show that the CSBBR removed up to 76.8%, 44.5% and 10.4% of TN, respectively, at three tested COD/TN ratios （9.0, 4.8 and 2.5）. In contrast, the TN removal of the NSBBR could reach 81.9%, 60.5% and 26.6%, respectively, at the corresponding COD/TN ratios. Therefore, better TN removal performance could be achieved in the NSBBR, especially at low CODfrN ratios （4.8 and 2.5）. Furthermore, it is easy to upgrade a CSBBR into an NSBBR in practice.