title: Post-aeration of anaerobically digested sewage sludge for advanced COD and nitrogen removal: results and cost-benefit analysis at large-scale.
abstract: At a large Austrian municipal wastewater treatment plant enhanced stabilisation of anaerobically digested sewage sludge was required in order to get a permit for landfill disposal of the dewatered stabilized sludge. By implementing a post-aeration treatment after anaerobic digestion the organic content of the anaerobically well digested sludge can be decreased by 16%. Investigations at this plant showed that during digested sludge post-aeration anoxic phases are needed to provide stable process conditions. In this way the pH value can be kept in a more favourable range for micro-organisms and concrete structures. Additionally, under the process conditions applied nitrite accumulation would inhibit the stabilisation process if denitrification is not adequately applied. By optimising the aeration/pause ratio approximately 45% of total nitrogen in digested sludge can be removed. NH4-removal occurs through nitrification and denitrification with an efficiency of 98%. This significantly improves nitrogen removal efficiency at the wastewater treatment plant. The costs/benefit analysis shows that post-aeration of digested sludge results in an increase of total annual costs for wastewater treatment of only 0.84%, corresponding to 0.19 Euro/pe/a. Specific costs for nitrogen removal (0.32 Euro/kgN) are comparable with other biological processes for N-removal in reject water.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Water Quality, Resources and Waste Management, Vienna University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Karlsplatz 13/226, Austria. vparravi@iwag.tuwien.ac.at
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Parravicini
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Svardal
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kroiss
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage; D009584:Nitrogen; D010100:Oxygen