Enhanced biological nutrients removal using an integrated oxidation ditch with vertical circle from wastewater by adding an anaerobic column

Compared to conventional oxidation ditches, an integrated oxidation ditch with vertical circle （IODVC） has the characters of concise configuration, simple operation and maintenance, land saving and automatical sludge returning. By the utilization of vertical circulation, an aerobic zone and an anoxic zone can be unaffectedly formed in the IODVC. Therefore, COD and nitrogen can be efficiently removed. However, the removal efficiency of phosphorus was low in the IODVC. In the experiment described, a laboratory scale system to add an anaerobic column to the IODVC has been tested to investigate the removal of phosphorus from wastewater. The experimental results showed that the removal efficiency of TP with the anaerobic column was increased to 54.0% from 22.3% without the anaerobic column. After the acetic sodium was added into the influent as carbon sources, the mean TP removal efficency of 77. 5 % was obtained. At the same time, the mean removal efficiencies of COD, TN and NH3-N were 92.2%, 81.6% and 98.1%, respectively, at 12 h of HRT and 21-25 d of SRT. The optimal operational conditions in this study were as follows： recycle rate = 1.5-2.0, COD/TN 〉 6, COD/TP 〉 40, COD loading rate = 0.26-0.32 kgCOD/（kgSS· d）, TN loading rate = 0. 028-0. 034 kgTN/（ kgSS·d） and TP loading rate = 0.003-0.005 kgTP/（kgSS· d）, respectively.

Biological Nutrient Removal in a Full Scale Anoxic/Anaerobic/Aerobic/ Pre-anoxic-MBR Plant for Low C/N Ratio Municipal Wastewater Treatment

A novel full scale modified A2O （anoxic/anaerobic/aerobic/pre-anoxic）-membrane bioreactor （MBR） plant combined with the step feed strategy was operated to improve the biological nutrient removal （BNR） from low C/N ratio municipal wastewater in Southern China. Transformation of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, and membrane fouling were investigated. Experimental results for over four months demonstrated good efficiencies for chemical oxygen demand （COD） and NH4^＋-N removal, with average values higher than 84.5%and 98.1%, re-spectively. A relatively higher total nitrogen （TN） removal efficiency （52.1%） was also obtained at low C/N ratio of 3.82, contributed by the configuration modification （anoxic zone before anaerobic zone） and the step feed with a distribution ratio of 1：1. Addition of sodium acetate into the anoxic zone as the external carbon source, with a theoretical amount of 31.3 mg COD per liter in influent, enhanced denitrification and the TN removal efficiency in-creased to 74.9%. Moreover, the total phosphate （TP） removal efficiency increased by 18.0%. It is suggested that the external carbon source is needed to improve the BNR performance in treating low C/N ratio municipal waste-water in the modified A^2O-MBR process.

Enhanced biological nutrient removal in modified carbon source division anaerobic anoxic oxic process with return activated sludge pre-concentration

A pilot-scale modified carbon source division anaerobic anoxic oxic(AAO) process with pre-concentration of returned activated sludge(RAS) was proposed in this study for the enhanced biological nutrient removal(BNR) of municipal wastewater with limited carbon source. The influent carbon source was fed in step while a novel RAS pre-concentration tank was adopted to improve BNR efficiency, and the effects of an influent carbon source distribution ratio and a RAS pre-concentration ratio were investigated. The results show that the removal efficiency of TN is mainly influenced by the carbon source distribution ratio while the TP removal relies on the RAS pre-concentration ratio. The optimum carbon source distribution ratio and RAS pre-concentration ratio are 60% and 50%, respectively, with an inner recycling ratio of 100% under the optimum steady operation of pilot test, reaching an average effluent TN concentration of 9.8 mg·L-1with a removal efficiency of 63% and an average TP removal efficiency of 94%. The mechanism of nutrient removal is discussed and the kinetics is analyzed. The results reveal that the optimal carbon source distribution ratio provides sufficient denitrifying carbon source to each anoxic phase, reducing nitrate accumulation while the RAS pre-concentration ratio improves the condition of anaerobic zone to ensure the phosphorus release due to less nitrate in the returned sludge. Therefore, nitrifying bacteria, denitrifying bacteria and phosphorus accumulation organisms play an important role under the optimum condition, enhancing the performance of nutrient removal in this test.

Nitrogen Removal Efficiencies for Two Biological Nutrient Removal （BNR） Plants in Thailand： Molasses as an External Carbon Source for Enriched Denitrifying Culture in a BNR Process

Two biological nutrient removal （BNR） wastewater treatment plants （WWTPs） in Thailand were selected for study： the Nonghkaem WWTP and the Suvarnabhumi Airport WWTP. For each site the influents, effluents, and supernatant liquids from anaerobic sludge digesters were analyzed for total Kjeldahl nitrogen （TKN）, total nitrogen （TN）, total chemical oxygen demand （TCOD）, biodegradable chemical oxygen demand （bCOD）, and biochemical oxygen demand （BOD）. Nitrogen removal efficiencies in the Nonghkaem WWTP and the Suvarnabhumi Airport WWTP were evaluated. Inadequate nitrogen removal at the Nonghkaem centralized WWTP was found during the summer period. Influent ratios of bCOD：N at the Nonghkaem plant and the Suvarnabhumi Airport plant were 2.42：1-5.45：1 and 4.1：1-6.5：1, respectively. The efficacy of addition of molasses as a carbon source for enriched denitrifying culture in a BNR process at Nonghkaem was studied. Fluorescent in situ hybridization technique （FISH） was used to identify specific nitrifying bacteria （Nitrosomonas spp., Nitrobacter spp. and Nitrospira spp.）. Nitrospira spp. was the most prevalent species in the aeration tank at the Nonghkaem WWTP. This result from FISH suggests that there were significantly low oxygen and nitrite concentration in the aeration tank at the Nonghkaem WWTP during a period of low nitrogen removal.

Fluidized-Bed Bioreactor Applications for Biological Wastewater Treatment： A Review of Research and Developments

Wastewater treatment is a process that is vital to protecting both the environment and human health. At present, the most cost-effective way of treating wastewater is with biological treatment processes such as the activated sludge process, despite their long operating times. However, population increases have created a demand for more efficient means of wastewater treatment, Fluidization has been demonstrated to in- crease the efficiency of many processes in chemical and biochemical engineering, but it has not been widely used in large-scale wastewater treatment. At the University of Western Ontario, the circulating fluidized-bed bioreactor （CFBBR） was developed for treating wastewater. In this process, carrier particles develop a biofilm composed of bacteria and other microbes. The excellent mixing and mass transfer characteristics inherent to fluidization make this process very effective at treating both municipal and industrial wastewater. Studies of lab- and pilot-scale systems showed that the CFBBR can remove over 90% of the influent organic matter and 80% of the nitrogen, and produces less than one-third as much biological sludge as the activated sludge process. Due to its high efficiency, the CFBBR can also be used to treat wastewaters with high organic solid concentrations, which are more difficult to treat with conventional methods because they require longer residence times; the CFBBR can also be used to reduce the system size and footprint. In addition, it is much better at handling and recovering from dynamic loadings （i.e., varying influent volume and concentrations） than current systems. Overall, the CFBBR has been shown to be a very effective means of treating wastewa- ter, and to be capable of treating larger volumes of wastewater using a smaller reactor volume and a shorter residence time. In addition, its compact design holds potential for more geographically localized and isolat- ed wastewater treatment systems.

Biological nutrient removal by internal circulation upflow sludge blanket reactor after landfill leachate pretreatment

The removal of biological nutrient from mature landfill leachate with a high nitrogen load by an internal circulation upflow sludge blanket （ICUSB） reactor was studied. The reactor is a set of anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic （A^2/O） bioreactors, developed on the basis of an expended granular sludge blanket （EGSB）, granular sequencing batch reactor （GSBR） and intermittent cycle extended aeration system （ICEAS）. Leachate was subjected to stripping by agitation process and poly ferric sulfate coagulation as a pretreatment process, in order to reduce both ammonia toxicity to microorganisms and the organic contents. The reactor was operated under three different operating systems, consisting of recycling sludge with air （A^2/O）, recycling sludge without air （low oxygen） and a combination of both （A^2/O and low oxygen）. The lowest effluent nutrient levels were realised by the combined system of A^2/O and low oxygen, which resulted in effluent of chemical oxygen demand （COD）, NH3-N and biological oxygen demand （BOD5） concentrations of 98.20, 13.50 and 22.50 mg/L. The optimal operating conditions for the efficient removal of biological nutrient using the ICUSB reactor were examined to evaluate the influence of the parameters on its performance. The results showed that average removal efflciencies of COD and NH3- N of 96.49% and 99.39%, respectively were achieved under the condition of a hydraulic retention time of 12 hr, including 4 hr of pumping air into the reactor, with dissolved oxygen at an rate of 4 mg/L and an upflow velocity 2 m/hr. These combined processes were successfully employed and effectively decreased pollutant loading.

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal using thermal alkaline hydrolyzed municipal wastewater biosolids

This study reports the feasibility of using municipal wastewater biosolids as an alternative carbon source for biological phosphorus removal.The biosolids were treated by a lowtemperature,thermal alkaline hydrolysis process patented by Lystek International Inc.(Cambridge,ON,Canada)to produce short-chain volatile fatty acids and other readily biodegradable organics.Two sequencing batch reactors(SBRs)were operated with synthetic volatile fatty acids(Syn VFA)and readily biodegradable organics produced from the alkaline hydrolysis of municipal wastewater biosolids(Lystek)as the carbon source,respectively.Municipal wastewaters with different strengths and COD:N:P ratios were tested in the study.The reactors’performances were compared with respect to nitrogen and phosphorus removal.It was observed that phosphorus removal efficiencies were between 98%–99%and 90%–97%and nitrogen removal efficiencies were 78%–81%,and 67%for the Syn VFA and Lystek,respectively.However,the kinetics for phosphorus release and uptake during the anaerobic and aerobic stages with Lystek were observed to be significantly lower than Syn VFA due to the presence of higher order VFAs(C4 and above)and other fermentable organics in the Lystek.

Cassava stillage and its anaerobic fermentation liquid as external carbon sources in biological nutrient removal

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of one kind of food industry effluent, cassava stillage and its anaerobic fermentation liquid, on biological nutrient removal （BNR） from municipal wastewater in anaerobic- anoxic-aerobic sequencing batch reactors （SBRs）. Experiments were carried out with cassava stillage supernatant and its anaerobic fermentation liquid, and one pure compound （sodium acetate） served as an external carbon source. Cyclic studies indicated that the cassava by-products not only affected the transformation of nitrogen, phosphorus, poly-13-hydroxyalkanoates （PHAs）, and glycogen in the BNR process, but also resulted in higher removal efficiencies for phosphorus and nitrogen compared with sodium acetate. Furthermore, assays for phosphorus accumulating or- ganisms （PAOs） and denitrifying phosphorus accumulating organisms （DPAOs） demonstrated that the proportion of DPAOs to PAOs reached 62.6% （Day 86） and 61.8% （Day 65） when using cassava stillage and its anaerobic fer- mentation liquid, respectively, as the external carbon source. In addition, the nitrate utilization rates （NURs） of the cassava by-products were in the range of 5.49-5.99 g N/（kg MLVSS.h） （MLVSS is mixed liquor volatile suspended solids） and 6.63-6.81 g N/（kg MLVSS.h）, respectively. The improvement in BNR performance and the reduction in the amount of cassava stillage to be treated in-situ make cassava stillage and its anaerobic fermentation liquid attractive alternatives to sodium acetate as external carbon sources for BNR processes.

Effects of different external carbon sources and electron acceptors on interactions between denitrification and phosphorus removal in biological nutrient removal processes

The effects of two different external carbon sources （acetate and ethanol） and electron acceptors （dissolved oxygen, nitrate, and nitrite） were investigated under aerobic and anoxic conditions with non-acclimated process bi- omass from a full-scale biological nutrient removal-activated sludge system. When acetate was added as an external carbon source, phosphate release was observed even in the presence of electron acceptors. The release rates were 1.7, 7.8, and 3.5 mg P/（g MLVSS.h） （MLVSS： mixed liquor volatile suspended solids）, respectively, for dissolved oxygen, nitrate, and nitrite. In the case of ethanol, no phosphate release was observed in the presence of electron acceptors. Results of the experiments with nitrite showed that approximately 25 mg NO2-N/L of nitrite inhibited anoxic phosphorus uptake regardless of the concentration of the tested external carbon sources. Furthermore, higher deni- trification rates were obtained with acetate （1.4 and 0.8 mg N/（g MLVSS.h）） compared to ethanol （1.1 and 0.7 mg N/ （g MLVSS.h）） for both anoxic electron acceptors （nitrate and nitrite）.

N2O emission from a sequencing batch reactor for biological N and P removal from wastewater

Nitrous oxide （N2O） is a greenhouse gas that can be released during biological nitrogen removal from wastewater. N2O emission from a sequencing batch reactor （SBR） for biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal from wastewater was investigated, and the aims were to examine which process, nitrification or denitrification, would contribute more to N2Oemission and to study the effects of heterotrophic activities on N2O emission during nitrification. The results showed that N2O emission was mainly attributed to nitrification rather than to denitrification. N2O emission during denitrification mainly occurred with stored organic carbon as the electron donor. During nitrification, NaO emission was increased with increasing initial ammonium or nitrite concentrations. The ratio of N2O emission to the removed ammonium nitrogen （N2O- N/NH4-N） was 2.5% in the SBR system with high heterotrophic activities, while this ratio was in the range from 0.14% to 1.06% in batch nitrification experiments with limited heterotrophic activities.

Cascaded Simultaneous Nitrification and Denitrification Process for Nitrogen and Phosphorus Reduction from RO Reject Wastewater： A Bench-Scale Study

The use of the reverse osmosis （RO） process, for refining secondary or tertiary effluent from plants treating domestic wastewater, is rapidly increasing. However, the disposal of the RO reject water poses a problem due to the presence of very high concentrations of salts, metals, and nutrients in it. This paper contains results of a bench-scale study aimed at reducing nutrients from RO-discarded streams utilizing a sequential bioreactors system, under partial aerobic and anoxic conditions. The tests were performed on synthetic wastewater resembling RO-reject water of an operating treatment plant, with glucose, methanol or acetate added to the water as sources of carbon. Study results indicate that the RO process removed about 50-60% of the total nitrogen and 50% of the phosphate; it reduced chemical oxygen demand （COD） by 79 to 82%, and affected no change in the metal concentrations. A clear cut removal preference for any one of the external carbon sources was not observed, although a slight advantage of glucose and methanol was recorded. The process maintained about 20% of the rector volume in the anoxic environment.

Optimization of denitrifying phosphorus removal in a predenitrification anaerobic/anoxic/post-aeration+nitrification sequence batch reactor(pre-A_(2)NSBR)system:Nitrate recycling,carbon/nitrogen ratio and carbon source type

Because the efficiency of biological nutrient removal is always limited by the deficient carbon source for the low carbon/nitrogen(C/N)ratio in real domestic sewage,the denitrifying phosphorus removal(DNPR)was developed as a simple and efficient method to remove nitrogen and phosphorous.In addition,this method has the advantage of saving aeration energy while reducing the sludge production.In this context,a pre-denitrification anaerobic/anoxic/post-aeration+nitrification sequence batch reactor(pre-A_(2)NSBR)system,which could also reduce high ammonia effluent concentration in the traditional two-sludge DNPR process,is proposed in this work.The pre-A_(2)NSBR process was mainly composed of a DNPR SBR and a nitrifying SBR,operating as alternating anaerobic/anoxic/post-aeration+nitrification sequence.Herein,the long-term performance of different nitrate recycling ratios(0-300%)and C/N ratios(2.5-8.8),carbon source type,and functional microbial community were studied.The results showed that the removal efficiency of total inorganic nitrogen(TIN,including NH4^(+)-N,NO_(2)^(-)-N,and NO_(3)^(-)-N)gradually increased with the nitrate recycling ratios,and the system reached the highest DNPR efficiency of 94.45% at the nitrate recycling ratio of 300%.The optimum C/N ratio was around 3.9-7.3 with a nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiency of 80.15%and 93.57%,respectively.The acetate was proved to be a high-quality carbon source for DNPR process.The results of fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH)analysis indicated that nitrifiers and phosphorus accumulating organisms(PAOs)were accumulated with a proportion of 19.41%and 26.48%,respectively.

Simultaneous denitrification and denitrifying phosphorus removal in a full-scale anoxic–oxic process without internal recycle treating low strength wastewater

Performance of a full-scale anoxic-oxic activated sludge treatment plant（4.0×10-5 m-3/day for the first-stage project） was followed during a year.The plant performed well for the removal of carbon,nitrogen and phosphorus in the process of treating domestic wastewater within a temperature range of 10.8℃ to 30.5℃.Mass balance calculations indicated that COD utilization mainly occurred in the anoxic phase,accounting for 88.2% of total COD removal.Ammonia nitrogen removal occurred 13.71% in the anoxic zones and 78.77% in the aerobic zones.The contribution of anoxic zones to total nitrogen（TN） removal was 57.41%.Results indicated that nitrogen elimination in the oxic tanks was mainly contributed by simultaneous nitrification and denitrification（SND）.The reduction of phosphorus mainly took place in the oxic zones,51.45% of the total removal.Denitrifying phosphorus removal was achieved biologically by 11.29%.Practical experience proved that adaptability to gradually changing temperature of the microbial populations was important to maintain the plant overall stability.Sudden changes in temperature did not cause paralysis of the system just lower removal efficiency,which could be explained by functional redundancy of microorganisms that may compensate the adverse effects of temperature changes to a certain degree.Anoxic-oxic process without internal recycling has great potential to treat low strength wastewater（i.e.,TN 〈 35 mg/L） as well as reducing operation costs.

Simulation of long-term nutrient removal in a full-scale closed-loop bioreactor for sewage treatment： an example of Bayesian inference

In this study, the performance of nitrogen and phosphorus removal in a full-scale closed-loop bioreactor （oxidation ditch） system was simulated using the ASM2d model. Routine data describing the process for two years were compiled for calibration and validation. To overcome the identifiability problem, the classic Bayesian inference approach was utilized for parameter estimation. The calibrated model could describe the long-term trend of nutrient removal and short-term variations of the process performance, showing that the Bayesian method was a reliable and useful tool for the parameter estimation of the activated sludge models. The anoxic phosphate uptake by polyphosphate accumulating organisms （PAO） contributed 71.2% of the total Poly-P storage, which reveals the dominance of denitrifying phosphorus removal process under the oxygen limiting conditions. It was found that 58.7% of the anoxic Poly-P storage and denitrification by PAO in the reactor was achieved in the aerated compartment, implying that the PAO＇s anoxic activity was significantly stimulated by the low dissolved oxygen （DO） level in this compartment due to the oxygen gradient caused by brush aerator.

Study on the effect of landfill leachate on nutrient removal from municipal wastewater

In this study, landfill leachate with and without pre-treatment was co-treated with municipal wastewater at different mixing ratios. The leachate pre-treatment was achieved by air stripping to removal ammonia. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of landfill leachate on nutrient removal of the wastewater treatment process. It was demonstrated that when landfill leachate was co-treated with municipal wastewater, the high ammonia concentration in the leachate did not have a negative impact on the nitrification. The system was able to adapt to the environment and was able to improve nitrification capacity. The readily biodegradable portion of chemical oxygen demand（COD）in the leachate was utilized by the system to improve phosphorus and nitrate removal.However, this portion was small and majority of the COD ended up in the effluent thereby decreased the quality of the effluent. The study showed that the 2.5% mixing ratio of leachate with wastewater improved the overall biological nutrient removal process of the system without compromising the COD removal efficiency.

Simultaneous denitrifying phosphorus accumulation in a sequencing batch reactor

In order to achieve simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal in the biological treatment process,denitrifying phosphorus accumulation(DNPA)and its affecting factors were studied in a sequencing batch reactor(SBR)with synthetic wastewater.The results showed that when acetate was used as the sole carbon resource in the influent,the sludge acclimatized under anaerobic/aerobic operation had good phos-phorus removal ability.Denitrifying phosphorus accumulation was observed soon when fed with nitrate instead of aeration following the anaerobic stage,which is a vital premise to DNPA.If DNPA sludge is fed with nitrate prior to the anaerobic stage,the DNPA would weaken or even disappear.At the high concen-tration of nitrate fed in the anoxic stage,the longer anoxic time needed,the better the DNPA was.Induced DNPA did not disap-pear even though an aerobic stage followed the anoxic stage,but the shorter the aerobic stage lasted,the higher the proportions of phosphorus removal via DNPA to total removal.

A novel approach to estimate and control denitrification performance in activated sludge systems with respirogram technology

Respirogram technology has been widely applied for aerobic process, however, the response of respirogram to anoxic denitrification is still unclear. To reveal such response may help to design a new method for the evaluation of the performance of denitrification. The size distribution of flocs measured at different denitrification moments demonstrated a clear expansion of flocs triggered by denitrification, during which higher specific endogenous and quasi-endogenous respiration rates(SOUReand SOURq) were also observed. Furthermore,SOURqincreases exponentially with the specific denitrification rate(SDNR), suggesting that there should be a maximum SDNR in conventional activated sludge systems. Based on these findings, an index Rq/t, defined as the ratio of quasi-endogenous(OURq) to maximum respiration rate(OURt), is proposed to estimate the denitrification capacity that higher Rq/tindicates higher denitrification potential, which can be readily obtained without complex measurement or analysis, and it offers a novel and promising respirogram-based approach for denitrification estimation and control by taking measures to extend anoxic time to maintain its value at a high level within a certain range.

Effect of short-term atrazine addition on the performance of an anaerobic/anoxic/oxic process

In this study,an anaerobic/anoxic/oxic(A^(2)O)wastewater treatment process was implemented to treat domestic wastewater with short-term atrazine addition.The results provided an evaluation on the effects of an accidental pollution on the operation of a wastewater treatment plant(WWTP)in relation to Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD)and biological nutrient removal.Domestic wastewater with atrazine addition in 3 continuous days was treated when steady biological nutrient removal was achieved in the A^(2)O process.The concentrations of atrazine were 15,10,and 5 mg%L–1 on days 1,2 and 3,respectively.The results showed that atrazine addition did not affect the removal of COD.The specific NH4þoxidation rate and NO3–reduction rate decreased slightly due to the short-term atrazine addition.However,it did not affect the nitrogen removal due to the high nitrification and denitrification capacity of the system.Total nitrogen(TN)removal was steady,and more than 70%was removed during the period studied.The phosphorus removal rate was not affected by the short-term addition of atrazine under the applied experimental conditions.However,more poly-hydroxy-alkanoate(PHA)was generated and utilized during atrazine addition.The results of the oxygen uptake rate(OUR)showed that the respiration of nitrifiers decreased significantly,while the activity of carbon utilizers had no obvious change with the atrazine addition.Atrazine was not removed with the A^(2)O process,even via absorption by the activated sludge in the process of the short-term addition of atrazine.