Nitrogen removal rates at a technical-scale pilot plant with the one-stage partial nitritation/Anammox process.
Traditional nitrification/denitrification is not suitable for nitrogen removal when wastewater contains high concentrations of ammonium nitrogen and low concentrations of biodegradable carbon. Recently, a deammonification process was developed and proposed as a new technology for treatment of such streams. This process relies on a stable interaction between aerobic bacteria Nitrosomonas, that accomplish partial nitritation and anaerobic bacteria Planctomycetales, which conduct the Anammox reaction. Simultaneous performance of these two processes can lead to a complete autotrophic nitrogen removal in one single reactor. The experiments where nitrogen was removed in one reactor were performed at a technical-scale moving-bed pilot plant, filled with Kaldnes rings and supplied with supernatant after dewatering of digested sludge. It was found that a nitrogen removal rate obtained at the pilot plant was 1.9 g m(-2) d(-1). Parallel to the pilot plant run, a series of batch tests were carried out under anoxic and aerobic conditions. Within the batch tests, where the pilot plant's conditions were simulated, removal rates reached up to 3 g N m(-2)d(-1). Moreover, the batch tests with inhibition of Nitrosomonas showed that only the Anammox bacteria (not anoxic removal by Nitrosomonas) are responsible for nitrogen removal.
Cema
G
G
Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden. grzegorz@kth.se
Szatkowska
B
B
Plaza
E
E
Trela
J
J
Surmacz-Górska
J
J
D000332:Aerobiosis; D000641:Ammonia / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D018441:Biofilms; D019149:Bioreactors; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D009606:Nitrosomonas / Q000378:metabolism; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
D002244:Carbon; D000641:Ammonia; D009584:Nitrogen