Treatment of slaughterhouse plant wastewater by using a membrane bioreactor

The use of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) for removal of organic substances and nutrients from slaughterhouse plant wastewater was investigated. The chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations of slaughterhouse wastewater were found to be approximately 571 mg O2/L, 102.5 mg/L, and 16.25 mg PO4-P/L, respectively. A submerged type membrane was used in the bioreactor. The removal efficiencies for COD, total organic carbon (TOC), TP and TN were found to be 97, 96, 65, 44% respectively. The COD value of wastewater was decreased to 16 mg/L (COD discharge standard for slaughterhouse plant wastewaters is 160 mg/L). TOC was decreased to 9 mg/L (TOC discharge standard for slaughterhouse plant wastewaters is 20 mg/L). Ammonium, and nitrate nitrogen concentrations of treated effluent were 0.100 mg NH4-N/L, and 80.521 mg NO3-N/L, respectively. Slaughterhouse wastewater was successfully treated with the MBR process.     

Application of membrane bioreactor system with full scale plant on livestock wastewater.

A full-scale plant of an MBR system treating livestock wastewater has shown impressive results. The Cheorwon County Environmental Authorities adopted the MBR process with UF membrane for retrofitting the old plant, which removes organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus at a high level. According to 6 months operation data, BOD and SS removal were about 99.9% and COD(Mn), TN and TP removal were 92.0%, 98.3% and 82.7%, respectively. It is considered that the temperature at the bioreactor has to be controlled to be below 40 degrees C so as to ensure sufficient nitrification. It appeared that the MBR system is competitive with other conventional technologies for treatment of livestock wastewater such as piggery waste.     

Anammox brings WWTP closer to energy autarky due to increased biogas production and reduced aeration energy for N-removal.

Fifty years ago when only BOD was removed at municipal WWTPs primary clarifiers were designed with 2-3 hours hydraulic retention time (HRT). This changed with the introduction of nitrogen removal in activated sludge treatment that needed more BOD for denitrification. The HRT of primary clarification was reduced to less than one hour for dry weather flow with the consequence that secondary sludge had to be separately thickened and biogas production was reduced. Only recently the ammonia rich digester liquid (15-20% of the inlet ammonia load) could be treated with the very economic autotrophic nitritation/anammox process requiring half of the aeration energy and no organic carbon source compared to nitrification and heterotrophic denitrification. With the introduction of this new innovative digester liquid treatment the situation reverts, allowing us to increase HRT of the primary clarifier to improve biogas production and reduce aeration energy for BOD removal and nitrification at similar overall N-removal.     

Alternate anoxic/aerobic operation for nitrogen removal in a membrane bioreactor for municipal wastewater treatment

A large pilot-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) with a conventional denitrification/nitrification scheme for municipal wastewater treatment has been run for one year under two different aeration strategies in the oxidation/nitrification compartment. During the first five months air supply was provided according to the dissolved-oxygen set-point and the system run as a conventional predenitrification MBR; then, an intermittent aeration strategy based on effluent ammonia nitrogen was adopted in the aerobic compartment in order to assess the impact on process performances in terms of N and P removal, energy consumption and sludge reduction. The experimental inferences show a significant improvement of the effluent quality as COD and total nitrogen, both due to a better utilization of the denitrification potential which is a function of the available electron donor (biodegradable COD) and electron acceptor (nitric nitrogen); particularly, nitrogen removal increased from 67% to 75%. At the same time, a more effective biological phosphorus removal was observed as a consequence of better selection of denitrifying phosphorus accumulating organisms (dPAO). The longer duration of anoxic phases also reflected in a lower excess sludge production (12% decrease) compared with the standard pre-denitrification operation and in a decrease of energy consumption for oxygen supply (about 50%).     

Biological nitrogen removal using bio-sorbed internal organic carbon from piggery wastewater in a post-denitrification MLE process.

Nitrogen removal from a piggery wastewater was investigated in a post-denitrification modified Lüdzack Ettinger (PDMLE) process. Overall hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the PDMLE, consisting of contact/separator (C/S), nitrification, denitrification and re-aerobic bioreactor was 10 days. 60% of the influent SCOD was separated in the C/S by contacting the return sludge with the synthetic wastewater, however, only 10% of the influent SCOD was separated from the piggery wastewater. Biosorption capacities of the synthetic wastewater and piggery wastewater were 800 and 150 mg/g-MLSS, respectively. In spite of the high organic and nitrogen load, nitrification efficiency was above 95%, and nitrification rate was about 180 mg-NH4+-N/L x day. The removed delta COD/delta nitrate ratios in the denitrification tank were 4.0 and 11.5 g-SCOD/g-nitrate, while denitrification rates were 8.4 and 2.6 mg-nitrate/day for synthetic and piggery wastewater, respectively. In the proposed PDMLE process, both bio-sorbed and bypassed organic matter could be successfully used for nitrate reduction as carbon sources and the final TN removal efficiency was as high as 95%.     

Boosting nitrification by membrane-attached biofilm.

Nitrification is a key step for reliable biological nitrogen removal. In order to enhance nitrification in the activated sludge (AS) process, membrane-attached biofilm (MAB) was incorporated in a conventional activated sludge tank. Simultaneous organic carbon removal and nitrification of the MAB incorporated activated sludge (AS + MAB) process was investigated with continuous wastewater treatment. The effluent TOC concentration of AS and the AS + MAB processes were about 6.3 mg/L and 7.9 mg/L, respectively. The TOC removal efficiency of both AS and AS + MAB were above 95% during the wastewater treatment, indicating excellent organic carbon removal performance in both processes. Little nitrification occurred in the AS process. On the contrary, successful nitrification was obtained with the AS + MAB process with nitrification efficiency of about 90%. The volumetric and surface nitrification rates were about 0.14 g/Ld and 6.5 g/m2d, respectively. The results clearly demonstrated that nitrification in the conventional AS process was boosted by MAB. Furthermore, the microfaunal population in the AS + MAB process was different from that in the AS process. The high concentration of rotifers in the AS + MAB process was expected to decrease the generation of excess sludge in the process.     

Effect of 200 days' sludge retention time on performance of a pilot scale submerged membrane bioreactor for high strength industrial wastewater treatment.

A high strength industrial wastewater was treated using a pilot scale submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) at a sludge retention time (SRT) of 200 d. The MBR was operated at a high sludge concentration of 20 g/L and a low F/M ratio of 0.11 during 300 d of operation. It was found that the MBR could achieve COD and TOC overall removal efficiencies at more than 99 and 98% TN removal. The turbidity of the permeate was consistently in the range of 0.123 to 0.136 NTU and colour254 absorbance readings varied from 0.0912 to 0.0962 a.u. cm(-1). The sludge concentration was inversely proportional to the hydraulic retention time (HRT), yielded excellent organic removal and extremely low sludge production (0.0016 kgVSS/day).     

Behavior of an Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Bed (UASB) reactor at extreme salinity.

High salinity is one of the most well known inhibitors and salt concentrations above 1% are reported as highly saline. Salt may be found in the main collectors of municipal sewer systems which carry the risk of seawater infiltration and where domestic wastewaters are treated with landfill leachates such cases in Istanbul. Discharging of leachates into sewerage would also result in additional ammonium loads in Municipal Treatment Plants (MTPs). In this study, synthetic wastewater was fed to a lab-scale Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Bed (UASB) reactor operated at a constant hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 1 day. The salt concentration was increased artificially whereas the ammonium concentration was fixed at 1000 mg/l throughout the study. Results indicated no significant inhibition up to 2% salinity + 1000 mg/l NH4 and TOC removals could reach up to 88%. Besides, effective total biogas productions having methane content of 84% could be achieved. It is obvious that anaerobic microorganisms (especially methanogens) could well adapt to high salinity ratios. No inhibition at high ammonium concentration might have been attributed to the fact that the pH in the system was not high enough for the formation of free ammonia. Investigation of the combined effect of high salinity and ammonium was carried on by increasing the salinity to 3% in the study. Results indicated that TOC removals decreased to around 56% and 3% salinity caused . a sharp decrease both in organic material removal and total biogas production. Thus the critical salinity level was determined as 3% for the methanogens in the mesophilic anaerobic digesters.     

SBR生物脱氮运行控制方式的优化

分析SBR系统处理城市污水的主要工艺参数及其对脱氮效果的影响。试验了多种运行控制方式,结果表明:①运行周期6 h,SBR即可较好地完成污水有机物氧化和同时脱氮;将闲置阶段设置在进水和曝气两阶段之间,可大幅度提高TN的去除率。②闲置时间会影响脱氮效果,最佳闲置时间为30 min;增加污泥负荷,可提高TN的去除率,但会降低NH3-N的硝化效果。     

Anaerobic co-digestion of sludge with other organic wastes and phosphorus reclamation in wastewater treatment plants for biological nutrients removal.

This paper deals with the performances obtained in full scale anaerobic digesters co-digesting waste activated sludge from biological nutrients removal wastewater treatment plants, together with different types of organic wastes (solid and liquid). Results showed that the biogas production can be increased from 4000 to some 18,000 m3 per month when treating some 3-5 tons per day of organic municipal solid waste together with waste activated sludge. On the other hand, the specific biogas production was improved, passing from 0.3 to 0.5 m3 per kgVS fed the reactor, when treating liquid effluents from cheese factories. The addition of the co-substrates gave minimal increases in the organic loading rate while the hydraulic retention time remained constant. Further, the potentiality of the struvite crystallisation process for treating anaerobic supernatant rich in nitrogen and phosphorus was studied: 80% removal of phosphorus was observed in all the tested conditions. In conclusion, a possible layout is proposed for designing or upgrading wastewater treatment plants for biological nutrients removal process.     

Nitrogen removal during leachate treatment: comparison of simple and sophisticated systems.

Membrane bioreactors (MBR) have become common in treating municipal wastewaters. Applied to leachates treatment MBR were also successful with pilot scale experiments and full-scale facilities as well. We succeeded previously in designing an efficient nitrification-denitrification process with an ethylene glycol byproduct as carbon source for denitrification. Moreover, an unexpectedly high inert COD removal efficiency was also observed in the full-scale MBR facility thereby making it possible to increase the operating time of the final GAC (Granulated Activated Carbon) adsorber. Since MBR are very sophisticated systems. Simpler and "lower" cost systems can also be considered. For example it is possible to nitrify leachates from sanitary landfill using a simple infiltration-percolation technique with a low energy cost. To validate previously published laboratory experiments, a semi industrial-scale pilot installation was installed at the Montzen landfill site (Belgium). The process is based on infiltration-percolation through a granular bed. This well known process was modified to increase the load, notably by changing the support medium, adding an electric fan that is run intermittently and maintaining temperatures greater than 15 degrees C. The new material is a type of granular calcium carbonate with a large specific surface area. These technical improvements enabled the system to nitrify up to 0.4 kg NH4+-N/m3 of reactor bed per day at a hydraulic load of 0.35 m.d(-1), with an ammonia removal rate in the range of 80 to 95%. Despite the high ammonia nitrogen inlet concentrations, this system exhibits remarkable nitrification efficiency. Moreover, these performances are achieved in a batch mode system without recirculation or dilution processes. If complete nitrification is needed, it can be obtained in a second in series of bioreactors. The system can be classified as a low cost process. An international patent is pending. Possible performances of those systems were compared with the usual methods for leachates treatment.     

Ammonia oxidizing bacterial community composition and process performance in wastewater treatment plants under low temperature conditions

Nitrification can be difficult to maintain at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) during cold periods resulting in disrupted nitrogen removal. The aim of this study was to relate nitrification process performance to abundance and composition of the ammonia oxidizer communities in two closely located municipal WWTPs in Sweden during an eight month period covering seasonal changes and low temperature conditions. Both facilities showed lower NH(4)(+)-N removal efficiency and nitrification rates as temperature decreased. However, one of the plants had a more stable nitrification rate and higher ammonia removal efficiency throughout the entire period. The differences in performance was related to a shift in the composition of the bacterial ammonia oxidizing community from a Nitrosomonas oligotropha-dominated community to a mixed community including also Nitrosomonas ureae-like ammonia oxidizers. This was likely a response to differences in NH(4)(+)-N and organic loading.     

Ammonia removal in the catalytic wet air oxygen process of landfill leachates with Co/Bi catalyst.

Oxidation of ammonia in landfill leachates in the catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) process was investigated with Co/Bi catalyst. The characterization of the Co/Bi catalyst was carried out by the X-ray diffraction technique. Studies of ammonia removal from the landfill leachates by CWAO showed that Co/Bi catalyst exhibited higher activities for both total organic carbon (TOC) and ammonia with removal levels of 99% for TOC and 98% for ammonia, respectively. Results also indicated that large amounts of ammonia were produced during the elimination of nitrogenous organic compounds in the CWAO process and the further oxidation of ammonia gave off essentially N2 under 240 degrees C. When the system temperature reached above 240 degrees C, ammonia oxidation rate was much higher with nitrate dominating in the effluent; a very small amount of nitrite was observed in the reaction process, it possibly acts as the intermediate of nitrate ion and molecular nitrogen formation, showing that the system temperature had significant effects on the ammonia oxidation and reaction selectivity towards the production of molecular nitrogen or nitrate.     

城市污水脱氮除磷SBR在线控制系统研究

SBR采用进水—厌氧—好氧—缺氧—好氧—沉淀—出水的运行方式处理城市污水。反应器装备有DO、ORP和pH等在线检测传感器。DO、ORP和pH变化的一些特征点可以用来判断和控制SBR中污水脱氮除磷过程的各个步骤。这包括:厌氧时,ORP和pH的转折点对应磷的释放;一次好氧时,DO、ORP的氨肘和pH的氨谷对应硝化结束;缺氧时,ORP的硝酸盐膝和pH的硝酸盐峰对应反硝化结束;二次好氧时,DO、ORP碳肘对应剩余碳的氧化结束,pH的转折点对应聚磷结束。控制系统能进行全自动运行来完成污水的脱氮除磷。     

ANAMMOX工艺在生活污水深度处理中的应用研究

随着水环境质量的恶化,高能低耗的污水深度处理技术成为当前研究热点,尤其是对于低C/N比的城市生活污水脱氮技术的研究。试验以城市生活污水的二级出水为研究对象,采用ANAMMOX下向流生物滤池,当二级出水NH3-N=15-35mg/L,CODCr=25-45mg/L,TOC=9-12mg/L,水温=25-28℃时,ANAMMOX下向流生物滤池脱氨率达80%-100%,不仅适用于处理高氨废水,也可用于城市生活污水深度处理中。试验发现pH可以用来指示ANAMMOX反应的进行,同时也可以用来指示ANAMMOX反应进程的快慢。试验中还发现,厌氧氨氧化反应速率与NO2--N含量有关,原水中NO2--N含量的增多有利于ANAMMOX工艺处理效果。     

MBR工艺处理城镇污水处理厂污泥水中试研究

将平板膜组件与传统脱氮除磷工艺相结合,构建了膜生物反应器强化生物脱氮除磷中试系统,并用于处理城镇污水处理厂的污泥系统废水。结果表明,出水CODCr、BOD5、NH3—N、TN和TP的平均浓度分别为70.8 mg/L、8.7 mg/L、15.1 mg/L、29.7 mg/L和0.38 mg/L,达到或接近了《城镇污水处理厂污染物排放标准》(GB 18918—2002)的一级标准。     

Nitrogen removal from pharmaceutical manufacturing wastewater via nitrite and the process optimization with on-line control.

In this study, laboratory scale experiments were conducted to investigate the nitrogen removal from pharmaceutical manufacturing wastewater. The results indicate that by selective inhibition of free ammonia on oxidizers, nitrogen removal can be achieved by nitritation and denitritation process. The nitrite ratio was above 98% in the aerobic stage and the nitrogen removal efficiency was about 99%. The complete ammonia removal corresponded exactly to the "Ammonia Valley" in the pH versus time graphic and the anoxic reaction was completed when the "Nitrite Knee" appeared in the ORP versus time graphic. Optimization of the SBR cycle by step-feed and on-line control with pH and ORP strategy allowed the carbon and energy saving. The easy operation and the low cost make the SBR system an interesting option for the biological nitrogen removal from the pharmaceutical manufacturing wastewater.     

Nutrients removal in hybrid fluidised bed bioreactors operated with aeration cycles.

Abstract Two hybrid fluidised bed reactors filled with sepiolite and granular activated carbon (GAC) were operated with short cycled aeration for removing organic matter, total nitrogen and phosphorous, respectively. Both reactors were continuously operated with synthetic and/or industrial wastewater containing 350-500 mg COD/L, 110-130 mg NKT/L, 90-100 mg NH3-N/L and 12-15 mg P/L for 8 months. The reactor filled with sepiolite, treating only synthetic wastewater, removed COD, ammonia, total nitrogen and phosphorous up to 88, 91, 55 and 80% with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 10 h, respectively. These efficiencies correspond to removal rates of 0.95 kgCODm(-3)d(-1) and 0.16 kg total N m(-3)d(-1).The reactor filled with GAC was operated for 4 months with synthetic wastewater and 4 months with industrial wastewater, removing 98% of COD, 96% of ammonia, and 66% of total nitrogen, with an HRT of 13.6 h. No significant phosphorous removing activity was observed in this reactor. Microbial communities growing with both reactors were followed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) techniques. The microbial fingerprints, i.e. DGGE profiles, indicated that biological communities in both reactors were stable along the operational period even when the operating conditions were changed.     

Combining UASB and the "fourth generation" down-flow hanging sponge reactor for municipal wastewater treatment.

A "fourth generation" down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) Reactor has been developed and proposed as an improved variant of post-treatment system for UASB treating domestic wastewater. This paper evaluates the potential of the proposed combination of UASB and DHS as a sewage treatment system, especially for developing countries. A pilot-scale UASB (1.15 m3) and DHS (0.38 m3; volume of sponge) was installed in a municipal sewage treatment site and constantly monitored for 2 years. UASB was operated at an HRT of 6 h corresponding to an organic load of 2.15 kg-COD/m3 per day. Subsequently, the organic load in DHS was 2.35 kg-COD/m3 per day, operated at an HRT of 2 h. Organic removal by the whole system was satisfactory, accomplishing 96% of unfiltered BOD removal and 91% of unfiltered COD removal. However, nitrification decreased from 56% during the startup period to 28% afterwards. Investigation on DHS sludge was made by quantifying it and evaluating oxygen uptake rates with various substrates. Average concentration of trapped biomass was 26 g-VSS/L of sponge volume, increasing the SRT of the system to 100-125 d. Removal of coliforms obtained was 3-4 log10 with the final count of 10(3) to 10(4) MPN/100 ml in DHS effluent.     

Total nitrogen removal from high-strength ammonia recycle stream using a single submerged attached growth bioreactor.

An experimental study investigating the nitrogen removal efficiency from the recycle stream generated in the dewatering facility of the anaerobically digested sludge at the Deer Island wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Boston was conducted using a single submerged attached growth bioreactor (SAGB), designed for simultaneous nitrification and denitrification. The applied nitrogen loading to the reactor ranged from 0.7 to 2.27 kg-N/m3xd, and the corresponding total nitrogen (TN) removal rate ranged from 0.38 to 1.8 kg-N/m(3)xd. The observed nitrification rates varied from 0.42 kg-N/m3-d to 1.45 kg-N/m(3) xd with an ammonia load of 0.5 kg-N/m3-d and 1.8 kg-N/m(3)xd, respectively. An average nitrification efficiency of 91% was achieved throughout the experiment. Denitrification efficiency varied from 55%/o, obtained without any addition of carbon source, to 95% when methanol was added in order to obtain a methanol/nitrate ratio of about 3 kg methanol/kg NO3- -N.