title: Removal of organics and nutrients from food wastewater using combined thermophilic two-phase anaerobic digestion and shortcut biological nitrogen removal.
abstract: A process combining pilot-scale two-phase anaerobic digestion and shortcut biological nitrogen removal (SBNR) was developed to treat organics and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from food wastewater. The thermophilic two-phase anaerobic digestion process was investigated without adjusting the pH of the wastewater for the pre-acidification process. The digested food wastewater was treated using the SBNR process without supplemental carbon sources or alkalinity. Under these circumstances, the combined system was able to remove about 99% of COD, 88% of TN, and 97% of TP. However, considerable amounts of nutrients were removed due to chemical precipitation processes between the anaerobic digestion and SBNR. The average TN removal efficiency of the SBNR process was about 74% at very low C/N (TCOD/TN) ratio of 2. The SBNR process removed about 39% of TP from the digested food wastewater. Conclusively, application of the combined system improved organic removal efficiency while producing valuable energy (biogas), removed nitrogen at a low C/N ratio, and conserved additional resources (carbon and alkalinity).
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, Sa 3-Dong, Ansan, Gyeonggi-Do, Republic of Korea. choibongho7@naver.com
authors.forename: Fenghao
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Seungho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Moonil
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D007220:Industrial Waste; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D009584:Nitrogen