Advanced landfill leachate treatment using a two-stage UASB-SBR system at low temperature

A two-stage upflow anaerobic sludge blanket （UASB） and sequencing batch reactor （SBR） system was introduced to treat landfill leachate for advanced removal of COD and nitrogen at low temperature. In order to improve the total nitrogen （TN） removal efficiency and to reduce the COD requirement for denitrification, the raw leachate with recycled SBR nitrification supematant was pumped into the first-stage UASB （UASB1） to achieve simultaneous denitrification and methanogenesis. The results showed that UASB1 played an important role in COD removal and UASB2 and SBR further enhanced the nutrient removal efficiency. When the organic loading rates of UASB1, UASB2 and SBR were 11.95, 1.63 and 1.29 kg COD/（m^3.day）, respectively, the total COD removal efficiency of the whole system reached 96.7%. The SBR acted as the real undertaker for NH4^＋-N removal due to aerobic nitrification. The system obtained about 99.7% of NH4^＋-N removal efficiency at relatively low temperature （14.9-10.9℃）. More than 98.3% TN was removed through complete denitrification in UASB 1 and SBR. In addition, temperature had a significant effect on the rates of nitrification and denitrification rather than the removal of TN and NH4^＋-N once the complete nitrification and denitrification were achieved.

A novel multistage anoxic/aerobic process with sludge regeneration zone (R-MAO) for advanced nitrogen removal from domestic sewage

To achieve advanced nitrogen removal from actual municipal sewage,a novel multistage anoxic/aerobic process with sludge regeneration zone(R-MAO)was developed.The reactor was used to treat actual domestic sewage and the nitrogen removal capacity of the sludge regeneration zone(R zone)was investigated during the long-term operation.The best performance was obtained at the R zone’s Oxidation-Reduction Potential(ORP)of-50±30 mV and hydraulic residence times(HRT)of 1.2 hr.The average effluent COD,TN,NH_(4)^(+)-N and NO_(3)^(−)-N of the R-MAO process were 18.0±2.3,7.5±0.6,1.0±0.5 and 4.6±0.4 mg/L,respectively,with the corresponding removal efficiency of COD,TN and NH_(4)^(+)-N were 92.9%±1.0%,84.1%±1.5% and 97.5%±1.1%.Compared to the sole MAO system,the TN removal efficiency of the R-MAO increased by 10.1%.Besides,under the optimal conditions,the contribution of the R zone in the R-MAO that removal COD,TN,NH_(4)^(+)-N and NO_(3)^(−)-N were 0.36,0.15,0.032 and 0.82 g/day.High-throughput sequencing results showed that uncultured_bacterium_f_Burkholderiaceae(5.20%),OLB8(1.04%)and Ottowia(1.03%)played an important role in denitrification in the R zone.This study provided effective guidance for the design and operation of the R-MAO process in domestic sewage treatment.

Sludge fermentation liquid addition attained advanced nitrogen removal in low C/N ratio municipal wastewater through short-cut nitrification-denitrification and partial anammox

Biological nitrogen removal of wastewater with low COD/N ratio could be enhanced by the addition of wasted sludge fermentation liquid(SFL),but the performance is usually limited by the introducing ammonium.In this study,the process of using SFL was successfully improved by involving anammox process.Real municipal wastewater with a low C/N ratio of 2.8–3.4 was treated in a sequencing batch reactor(SBR).The SBR was operated under anaerobic-aerobic-anoxic(AOA)mode and excess SFL was added into the anoxic phase.Stable short-cut nitrification was achieved after 46d and then anammox sludge was inoculated.In the stable period,effluent total inorganic nitrogen(TIN)was less than 4.3 mg/L with removal efficiency of 92.3%.Further analysis suggests that anammox bacteria,mainly affiliated with Candidatus_Kuenenia,successfully reduced the external ammonia from the SFL and contributed approximately 28%–43%to TIN removal.Overall,this study suggests anammox could be combined with SFL addition,resulting in a stable enhanced nitrogen biological removal.

Combined biologic aerated filter and sulfur/ceramisite autotrophic denitrification for advanced wastewater nitrogen removal at low temperatures

An innovative advanced wastewater treatment process combining biologic aerated filter （BAF） and sulfur/ ceramisite-based autotrophic denitrification （SCAD） for reliable removal of nitrogen was proposed in this paper. In SCAD reactor, ceramisite was used as filter and Ca （HCO3）2 was used for supplying alkalinity and carbon source. The BAF-SCAD was used to treat the secondary treatment effluent. The performance of this process was investigated, and the impact of temperature on nitrogen removal was studied. Results showed that the combined system was effective in nitrogen removal even at low temperatures （8℃）. Removal of total nitrogen （TN）, NH4＋ -N, NO3-N reached above 90% at room temperature. Nitrification was affected by the temperature and nitrification at low temperature （8℃） was a limiting factor for TN removal. However, denitrification was not impacted by the temperature and the removal of NO3 -N maintained 98% during the experimental period. The reason of effective denitrification at low temperature might be the use of easily dissolved Ca（HCO3）2 and high-flux ceramisite, which solved the problem of low mass transfer efficiency at low temperatures. Besides, vast surface area of sulfur with diameter of 2-6 mm enhanced the rate of microbial utilization. The removal of nitrate companied with the production of SO42-, and the average concentration of SO27 was about 240mg.L^-1. These findings would be beneficial for the application of this process to nitrogen removal especially in the winter and cold regions.

Advanced nitrogen and phosphorus removal in A^(2)O-BAF system treating low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio domestic wastewater

A laboratory-scale anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic process(A^(2)O)with a small aerobic zone and a bigger anoxic zone and biologic aerated filter(A^(2)O-BAF)system was operated to treat low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio domestic wastewater.The A^(2)O process was employed mainly for organic matter and phosphorus removal,and for denitrification.The BAF was only used for nitrification which coupled with a settling tank Compared with a conventional A^(2)O process,the suspended activated sludge in this A^(2)OBAF process contained small quantities of nitrifier,but nitrification overwhelmingly conducted in BAF.So the system successfully avoided the contradiction in sludge retention time(SRT)between nitrifying bacteria and phosphorus accumulating organisms(PAOs).Denitrifying phosphorus accumulating organisms(DPAOs)played an important role in removing up to 91%of phosphorus along with nitrogen,which indicated that the suspended activated sludge process presented a good denitrifying phosphorus removal performance.The average removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand(COD),total nitrogen(TN),total phosphorus(TP),and NH_(4)^(+)-N were 85.56%,92.07%,81.24%and 98.7%respectively.The effluent quality consistently satisfied the national first level A effluent discharge standard of China.The average sludge volume index(SVI)was 85.4 mL·g^(-1)additionally,the volume ratio of anaerobic,anoxic and aerobic zone in A^(2)O process was also investigated,and the results demonstrated that the optimum value was 1:6:2.

Advanced nitrogen removal using pilot-scale SBR with intelligent control system built on three layer network

Since eutrophication has become increasingly severe in China,nitrogen and phosphorous have been the concern of wastewater treatment,especially nitrogen remov-al.The stabilization of the intelligent control system and nitrogen removal efficiency were investigated in a pilot-scale aerobic-anoxic sequencing batch reactor(SBR)with a treat-ment capacity of 60 m3/d.Characteristic points on the profiles of dissolved oxygen(DO),pH,and oxidation reduction potential(ORP)could exactly reflect the process of nitrifica-tion and denitrification.Using the intelligent control system not only could save energy,but also could achieve advanced nitrogen removal.Applying the control strategy water quality of the effluent could stably meet the national first discharge standard during experiment of 10 months.Even at low tem-perature(t=13°C),chemical oxygen demand(COD)and total nitrogen(TN)in the effluent were under 50 and 5 mg/L,respectively.

Non-thermal plasma treatment of Radix aconiti wastewater generated by traditional Chinese medicine processing

The wastewater effluent from Radix aconiti processing, an important step in the production processes of traditional Chinese medicine（TCM）, is a type of toxic wastewater and difficult to treat. Plasma oxidation methods have emerged as feasible techniques for effective decomposition of toxic organic pollutants. This study examined the performance of a plasma reactor operated in a dielectric barrier discharge（DBD） to degrade the effluent from R. aconiti processing. The effects of treatment time, discharge voltage, initial pH value and the feeding gas for the reactor on the degradation of this TCM wastewater were investigated. A bacterium bioluminescence assay was adopted in this study to test the toxicity of the TCM wastewater after non-thermal plasma treatment. The degradation ratio of the main toxic component was 87.77% after 60 min treatment with oxygen used as feed gas and it was 99.59% when the initial p H value was 8.0. High discharge voltage and alkaline solution environment were beneficial for improving the degradation ratio. The treatment process was found to be capable of reducing the toxicity of the wastewater to a low level or even render it non-toxic. These experimental results suggested that the DBD plasma method may be a competitive technology for primary decomposition of biologically undegradable toxic organic pollutants in TCM wastewater.