title: Treatment of synthetic wastewater and hog waste with reduced sludge generation by the multi-environment BioCAST technology.
abstract: Simultaneous removal of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus was examined along with reduced generation of biological sludge during the treatment of synthetic wastewater and hog waste by the BioCAST technology. This new multi-environment wastewater treatment technology contains both suspended and immobilized microorganisms, and benefits from the presence of aerobic, microaerophilic, anoxic and anaerobic conditions for the biological treatment of wastewater. The influent concentrations during the treatment of synthetic wastewater were 1,300-4,000 mg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/L, 42-115 mg total nitrogen (TN)/L, and 19-40 mg total phosphorus (TP)/L. The removal efficiencies reached 98.9, 98.3 and 94.1%, respectively, for carbon, TN and TP during 225 days of operation. The removal efficiencies of carbon and nitrogen showed a minimal dependence on the nitrogen-to-phosphorus (N/P) ratio, while the phosphorus removal efficiency showed a remarkable dependence on this parameter, increasing from 45 to 94.1% upon the increase of N/P ratio from 3 to 4.5. The increase of TN loading rate had a minimal impact on COD removal rate which remained around 1.7 kg/m(3) d, while it contributed to increased TP removal efficiency. The treatment of hog waste with influent COD, TN and TP concentrations of 960-2,400, 143-235 and 25-57 mg/L, respectively, produced removal efficiencies up to 89.2, 69.2 and 47.6% for the three contaminants, despite the inhibitory effects of this waste towards biological activity. The treatment system produced low biomass yields with average values of 3.7 and 8.2% during the treatment of synthetic wastewater and hog waste, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Boulevard West, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3G 1M8. laleh@encs.concordia.ca
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yerushalmi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alimahmoodi
authors.forename: C N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Mulligan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019149:Bioreactors; D008372:Manure; D012722:Sewage; D013552:Swine; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D008372:Manure; D012722:Sewage