Removal of nitrogen and phosphorus in a combined A^2/O-BAF system with a short aerobic SRT

A bench-scale anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic process-biological aerated filter （A^2/O-BAF） combined system was carded out to treat wastewater with lower C/N and C/P ratios. The A^2/O process was operated in a short aerobic sludge retention time （SRT） for organic pollutants and phosphorus removal, and denitrification. The subsequent BAF process was mainly used for nitrification. The BAF effluent was partially returned to anoxic zone of the A^2/O process to provide electron acceptors for denitrification and anoxic P uptake. This unique system formed an environment for reproducing the denitdfying phosphate-accumulating organisms （DPAOs）. The ratio of DPAOs to phosphorus accumulating organisms （PAOs） could be maintained at 28% by optimizing the organic loads in the anaerobic zone and the nitrate loads into the anoxic zone in the A^2/O process. The aerobic phosphorus over-uptake and discharge of excess activated sludge was the main mechanism of phosphorus removal in the combined system. The aerobic SRT of the A^2/O process should meet the demands for the development of aerobic PAOs and the restraint on the nitrifiers growth, and the contact time in the aerobic zone of the A^2/O process should be longer than 30 min, which ensured efficient phosphorus removal in the combined system. The adequate BAF effluent return rates should be controlled with 1--4 mg/L nitrate nitrogen in the anoxic zone effluent of A^2/O process to achieve the optimal nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies.

Analysis of the Effect and Influencing Factors of Rural Domestic Sewage Treatment Based on A^(2)O-MBBR Integrated Process

[Objectives] This study was conducted to solve the prominent problems in the treatment of domestic sewage in southern rural areas of China. [Methods] An integrated process treatment mode of anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic moving bed biofilm reactor (A 2O-MBBR) was proposed to analyze and study its operating effect and influencing factors. [Results] The A^(2)O-MBBR mode had good COD removal efficiency and nitrogen and phosphorus removal performance, and the water quality index of the effluent met the Class A standard of GB181918-2002. This mode is suitable for treating rural domestic sewage, and has high treatment effects in different operating periods. In spring, the average removal rates of COD, NH_(4)^(+)-N, TN, TP and SS reached (83.53 ± 2.15)%, (89.44 ± 4.97)%, (67.36±18.53)%, (88.22±11.21)% and (91.73±2.25)%, respectively;In the autumn period, the average removal rates of COD, NH_(4)^(+)-N, TN, TP and SS were (83.49±2.64)%, (89.26±9.19)%, (66.05±17.00)%, (87.48±9.68)%, and (91.13±2.35)%. [Conclusions] This study provides theoretical reference and technical support for the popularization and application of A^(2)O-MBBR integrated process.

Research Development and Application of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal in Sequencing Batch Biofilm Reactor

Frequent variations of the wastewater quality and quantity and other uncertain factors are the challenges faced by many wastewater treatment plants during the operation. Sequencing batch biofilm reactor（ SBBR） process provides a new idea for an effective solution to this problem. This paper introduces the basic processes and characteristics of the sequencing batch biofilm reactor（ SBBR） process,and summarizes the research status of this process in wastewater treatment. Factors affecting the nitrogen and phosphorus removal effect of the SBBR process are also analyzed.

Discussion on nitrogen and phosphorus removal process characteristics of improved oxidation ditch

In order to enhance efficiency of the nitrogen and phosphorus removal of sewage treatment plant, Taking Wu Long kou sewage treatment plant project in Zhengzhou as an example, this article introduces the structure, the working principle, the craft character, as well as the problems existed in the practical application of the improved oxidation ditch, and raises some corresponding processing countermeasures. Looked from the running situation of Wu Long kou sewage treatment plant, the improved oxidation ditch have certain advantages in city sewage treatment, such as high organic removing efficiency, good removing effect of nitrogen and phosphorus, low investing expenses and operating cost and so on. It is a craft that is worth promoting in urban sewage treatment.

Study on Purification Efficiency of Vertical Flow Wetlands on Domestic Wastewater

The combination method of intermittent influent and vertical flow wetlands （VFW） was used in the test to treat the domestic wastewater. Four artificial wetlands including Typha latifolia wetland,Phragmites australis （P.H.） wetland,polyculture wetlands （Typha latifolia and Phragmites australis） and non-vegetation wetland were established in the test. The effects of hydraulic retention time （HRT） and plant species on pollutants removal efficiencies were studied. The results showed that when HRT=7,the treatment efficiencies of wetlands with plants for the removal of TN and NH＋4-N were up to 99.65% and 99.58%,respectively. For the control wetland,TN removal efficiency was up to 87.9% when HRT were 6 days,and NH＋4-N removal efficiency was up to 91.8% when HRT were 5 days. TP removal efficiencies of four wetlands were higher than 93% when HRT was 6 days. Through the studies on different plants,it was found that vegetation wetlands had better nitrogen removal efficiency than non-vegetation wetland. The treatment efficacy of Phragmites australis wetland and polyculture wetland was better than Typha latifolia wetland.

Anoxic Biological Phosphorus Uptake in A^2O Process

A lab-scale anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (A2O) process used to treat a synthetic brewage wastewater was investigated. The objectives of the study were to identify the existence of denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria (DPB), evaluate the contribution of DPB to biological nutrient removal and enhance the denitrifying phosphorus removal in A2O bioreactors. Sludge analysis confirmed that the average anoxic P uptake accounted for approximately 70% the total amount of P uptake, and the ratio of anoxic P uptake rate to aerobic P uptake rate was 69%. In addition, nitrate concentration in the anoxic phase and different organic substrate introduced into the anaerobic phase had significant effect on the anoxic P uptake. Compared with conventional A2O processes, good removal efficiencies of COD, phosphorus, ammonia and total nitrogen (92.3%, 95.5%, 96% and 79.5%, respectively) could be achieved in the anoxic P uptake system, and aeration energy consumption was saved 25%. By controlling the nitrate recirculation flow in the anoxic zone, anoxic P uptake could be enhanced, which solved the competition for organic substrates among poly-P organisms and denitrifiers successfully under the COD limiting conditions. Therefore, in wastewater treatment plants the control system should be applied according to the practical situation to optimize the operation.

Effects of low temperature on sludge settleability and nutrients removal performance treating domestic wastewater

In order to investigate the effect of temperature on activated sludge systems,sludge settleability,nitrogen and phosphorus removal processes were investigated by changing temperature variation patterns using 4 sequencing batch reactors (SBR).The results showed that no matter temperature changes in the range of 15-22 ℃ (decrease or increase) gradually or sharply,it has little effect on nitrogen and phosphorus removal processes.But when temperature decreases to 12 ℃,biochemical reactions will be inhibitted obviously.At least 1 sludge retention time (SRT) is needed for nitrification adapt to new temperature envirionment,and more time is necessary for phosphorus removal process.When temperature increases from 12 ℃ to 22 ℃ sharply,nitrification process deteriorates seriously,but phosphorus removal process shows no change.In addition,sludge settleability deteriorates when temperature changes sharply (decrease or increase),but the reasons are different.Under temperature decrease condition,it is mainly caused by the increase of accumulated extracellular polymeric substances (EPS).Under temperature increase condition,the loosing sludge flocs' configuration is the main reason.It should be pointed out that the filamentous bacteria content during the entire experiment keeps almost constant,and the sludge settleability variations are the reflection of the change of sludge physicochemical characteristics.

Disposal of Rural Domestic Sewage in Ecological Wetland System

Pollution brought by rural domestic sewage has become increasingly serious, so it is imperative to fi gure out economical and efficient solutions. On the basis of comparison between rural domestic sewage treatment means in China and abroad, actual conditions of countryside, current situation and features of domestic sewage, this paper adopted the compound ecological wetland system consisting of anaerobic and aerobic units, ecological floating bed and artifi cial wetland, so as to remove nitrogen and phosphorus efficiently, achieve the goal of low operation and construction cost and less land use.

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.

Research on polyhydroxyalkanoates and glycogen transformations: Key aspects to biologic nitrogen and phosphorus removal in low dissolved oxygen systems

In this paper,a study was conducted on the effect of polyhydroxyalkanoates(PHA)and glycogen transformations on biologic nitrogen and phosphorus removal in low dissolved oxygen(DO)systems.Two laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors(SBR1 and SBR2)were operating with anaerobic/aerobic(low DO,0.15-0.45 mg·L^(-1))configurations,which cultured a propionic to acetic acid ratio(molar carbon ratio)of 1.0 and 2.0,respectively.Fewer poly-3-hydroxybutyrate(PHB),total PHA,and glycogen transformations were observed with the increase of propionic/acetic acid,along with more poly-3-hydroxyvalerate(PHV)and poly-3-hydroxy-2-methyvalerate(PH2MV)shifts.The total nitrogen(TN)removal efficiency was 68%and 82%in SBR1 and SBR2,respectively.In the two SBRs,the soluble ortho-phosphate(SOP)removal efficiency was 94%and 99%,and the average sludge polyphosphate(poly-P)content(g·g-MLVSS^(-1))was 8.3%and 10.2%,respectively.Thus,the propionic to acetic acid ratio of the influent greatly influenced the PHA form and quantity,glycogen transformation,and poly-P contained in activated sludge and further determined TN and SOP removal efficiency.Moreover,significant correlations between the SOP removal rate and the(PHV+PH2MV)/PHA ratio were observed(R^(2)>0.99).Accordingly,PHA and glycogen transformations should be taken into account as key components for optimizing anaerobic/aerobic(low DO)biologic nitrogen and phosphorus removal systems.

On-line controlling system for nitrogen and phosphorus removal of municipal wastewater in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR)

The objectives of this study were to establish an on-line controlling system for nitrogen and phosphorus removal synchronously of municipal wastewater in a sequencing batch reactor(SBR).The SBR for municipal wastewater treatment was operated in sequences:filling,anaerobic,oxic,anoxic,oxic,settling and discharge.The reactor was equipped with on-line monitoring sensors for dissolved oxygen(DO),oxidation-reduction potential(ORP)and pH.The variation of DO,ORP and pH is relevant to each phase of biological process for nitrogen and phosphorus removal in this SBR.The characteristic points of DO,ORP and pH can be used to judge and control the stages of process that include:phosphate release by the turning points of ORP and pH;nitrification by the ammonia valley of pH and ammonia elbows of DO and ORP;denitrification by the nitrate knee of ORP and nitrate apex of pH;phosphate uptake by the turning point of pH;and residual organic carbon oxida-tion by the carbon elbows of DO and ORP.The controlling system can operate automatically for nitrogen and phosphorus efficiently removal.

Pre-anoxic/Orbal Oxidation Ditch/Rotary Disc Filter Treatment of Mixed Sewage in Industrial Park

The design scale of a sewage treatment plant in the industrial center of a district in Changzhou is 2×10^(4) m^(3)/d. Data analysis, process selection and analysis and main structure design were carried out for the sewage treatment plant to ensure that the effluent quality meets the discharge standards. The operation results after the implementation of the project show that the project can effectively improve the effluent quality of the sewage treatment plant. The removal rates of COD, NH+4, TN and TP are 93.97%, 98.63%, 82.67% and 97.37% respectively, and the effluent quality can be discharged stably up to the standard. Using cost analysis to study the operation of the sewage treatment plant, the results show that the total investment of the sewage treatment plant is 40 million yuan, the electricity cost of this project is 0.426 yuan/m^(3), the pharmaceutical cost is 0.655 yuan/m^(3), and the material replacement fee is 0.323 yuan/m^(3). The direct operating cost is 1.404 yuan/m^(3). This method has good practical guiding significance for the optimization and operation transformation of the same type of sewage treatment plants.

Enhanced Nutrient Removal with Upflow Biological Aerated Filter for Reclaimed Water

A two-stage upflow biological aerated filter was designed as an advanced treatment process to optimize the operating parameters and study the correlative factors influencing the efficiency of nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal. The experimental results showed that the final effluent of the two-stage upflow biofilter process operated in series could meet the stringent limits of the reclaimed water for the total nitrogen of 2 mg/L, and total phosphorus of 0.3 mg/L. The high treatment efficiency allowed the reactor operating at very high hydraulic loadings and reaching nearly complete nitrification and denitrifieation.

Insights from metagenomic,metatranscriptomic,and molecular ecological network analyses into the effects of chromium nanoparticles on activated sludge system

The objectives of this study were to investigate the influence of chromium nanoparticles(Cr NPs)on the nitrogen and phosphorus removal performance and the bacterial structures of an activated sludge(AS)system.Also,we through molecular ecological networks(MENs)discussed the bacterial interactions.At last we researched the change of the functional genes and their expression patterns related to nitrogen and phosphorus removaT in an AS system.The results showed that long-term exposure to 1 mg/L Cr NPs significantly promoted the denitrifying process and phosphorus removal in the AS system.The relative abundance of denitrifying and phosphorus removal microorganisms,such as Denitratisoma,Thauera,Dechloromonas,and Defluviicoccus,increased significantly.Candidatus Accumulibacter,well-known as polyphosphate-accumulating organisms(PAOs),increased significantly;the relative abundance of Candidatus Competibacter,known as glycogen-accumulating organisms(GAOs),decreased significantly.Furthermore,metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analysis revealed that most of the genera related to denitrifying and phosphorus removal had greatly increased,according to the quantities of denitrifying and phosphorus genes,and the corresponding transcription likewise greatly increased.Lastly,MENs analysis showed that although the overall network became smaller and looser in the presence of Cr NPs,the microbial connections among members related to nitrogen and phosphorus removal were enhanced.The abundance increases of denitrifiers and PAOs,and their increased transcription of functional genes,together with the enhanced interactions may be associated with the promotion of the denitrifying process and phosphorus removal.

Effect of the C:N:P ratio on the denitrifying dephosphatation in a sequencing batch biofilm reactor(SBBR)

A series of investigations were conducted using sequencing batch biofilm reactor（SBBR） to explore the influence of C：N：P ratio on biological dephosphatation including the denitrifying dephosphatation and the denitrification process.Biomass in the reactor occurred mainly in the form of a biofilm attached to completely submerged disks.Acetic acid was used as the source of organic carbon.C：N：P ratios have had a significant effect on the profiles of phosphate release and phosphate uptake and nitrogen removal.The highest rates of phosphate release and phosphate uptake were recorded at the C：N：P ratio of 140：70：7.The C：N ratio of 2.5：1 ensured complete denitrification.The highest rate of denitrification was achieved at the C：N：P ratio of 140：35：7.The increase of nitrogen load caused an increase in phosphates removal until a ratio C：N：P of 140：140：7.Bacteria of the biofilm exposed to alternate conditions of mixing and aeration exhibited enhanced intracellular accumulation of polyphosphates.Also,the structure of the biofilm encouraged anaerobic-aerobic as well as anoxic-anaerobic and absolutely anaerobic conditions in a SBBR.These heterogeneous conditions in the presence of nitrates may be a significant factor determining the promotion of denitrifying polyphosphate accumulating organism（DNPAO） development.