title: Applicability of one-stage partial nitritation and anammox in MBBR for anaerobically pre-treated municipal wastewater.
abstract: Energy consumption of municipal wastewater treatment plants can be reduced by the anaerobic pre-treatment of the main wastewater stream. After this pre-treatment, nitrogen can potentially be removed by partial nitritation and anammox (PN/A). Currently, the application of PN/A is limited to nitrogen-rich streams (>500 mg L(-1)) and temperatures 25-35 °C. But, anaerobically pretreated municipal wastewater is characterized by much lower nitrogen concentrations (20-100 mg L(-1)) and lower temperatures (10-25 °C). We operated PN/A under similar conditions: total ammonium nitrogen concentration 50 mg L(-1) and lab temperature (22 °C). PN/A was operated for 342 days in a 4 L moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR). At 0.4 mg O2 L(-1), nitrogen removal rate 33 g N m(-3) day(-1) and 80 % total nitrogen removal efficiency was achieved. The capacity of the reactor was limited by low AOB activity. We observed significant anammox activity (40 g N m(-3) day(-1)) even at 12 °C, improving the applicability of PN/A for municipal wastewater treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Water Technology and Environmental Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technicka 5, 166 28, Prague, Czech Republic. koubav@vscht.cz.
authors.forename: Vojtech
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kouba
authors.affiliation: Université catholique de Lille, 60 Boulevard Vauban, 59800, Lille, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Widiayuningrum
authors.affiliation: Department of Water Technology and Environmental Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technicka 5, 166 28, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chovancova
authors.affiliation: Department of Water Technology and Environmental Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technicka 5, 166 28, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jenicek
authors.affiliation: Department of Water Technology and Environmental Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technicka 5, 166 28, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bartacek
mesh_terms: D064751:Ammonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D018441:Biofilms; D019149:Bioreactors; D003080:Cold Temperature; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D064751:Ammonium Compounds; D009584:Nitrogen; D010100:Oxygen; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Anammox in biofilm; Low strength wastewater; MBBR; Nitrogen removal; Partial nitritation