title: Optimization of the intermittent aeration in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant biological reactor for nitrogen removal.
abstract: The optimization of the intermittent aeration in a full-scale biological reactor treating municipal and industrial wastewater has been studied by means of an experimental design, where the main factors considered have been the on-off period of aeration and the dissolved-oxygen set point. The objective of the work has been to determine the optimal configuration of the aeration control to achieve a simultaneous removal of carbon (expressed as chemical oxygen demand [COD]) and nitrogen. The results were obtained in a full-scale bioreactor located at the wastewater treatment plant of Sant Celoni (Barcelona, Spain), where a nitrogen removal based on a nitrification-denitrification process is being tested. It has been shown that the crucial parameter to ensure a complete removal of COD and nitrogen is to give the system a long time of on-off aeration to complete both the nitrification and the denitrification processes, whereas the dissolved-oxygen set point has a minor influence on the overall performance. The results presented can be applied to a great number of similar systems, in which a nitrogen removal, based on a nitrification-denitrification scheme, is currently being tested or implemented.
authors.affiliation: Escola Universitària Politècnica del Medi Ambient, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Patrícia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Habermeyer
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez
mesh_terms: D000392:Air Movements; D019149:Bioreactors; D004867:Equipment Design; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants; D009584:Nitrogen