Inhibitory effect of the xenobiotic 1,2-dichloroethane in a nitrifying biofilm reactor.

The aim was to investigate the inhibitory effect of the xenobiotic 1,2-DCA on nitrification during the cometabolic degradation in a packed bed nitrifying biofilm reactor. This xenobiotic inhibited primarily the conversion of NH4-N to hydroxylamine by binding to the AMO enzyme. It had no inhibitory effect on the conversion of nitrite to nitrate. At high NH4-N loadings, the presence of 1,2-DCA inhibited NH4-N utilisation more severely than at low loadings. The suppressing effect of 1,2-DCA on NH4-N utilisation was found to be reversible due to the ability of cells to recover from inhibition. These results could fill a gap in the literature about the potential use of nitrifying biofilm systems for cometabolic treatment of 1,2-DCA and could be useful in the design of engineered 1,2-DCA remediation/treatment in biofilm reactors.     

Quantification of biofilms in a sub-surface flow wetland and their role in nutrient removal.

Subsurface flow wetlands contain gravel or sand substrates through which the wastewater flows vertically or horizontally. The aims of this study were, firstly, to quantify biofilm development associated with different size gravel in sections of a subsurface flow wetland with and without plants, and secondly, to conduct laboratory experiments to examine the role of biofilms in nutrient removal. Techniques to quantify biofilm included: bacterial cell counts, EPS and total protein extraction. Based on comparative gravel sample volume, only EPS was greater on the smaller 5 mm gravel particles. There was no significant difference between biofilm growth in sections with and without plants. Two vertical flow laboratory-scale reactors, one containing fresh wetland gravel, the other containing autoclaved gravel, were constructed to determine nutrient transformations. The autoclaved gravel in the "sterile" reactor rapidly became colonised with biofilm. Both reactors were dosed with two types of influent. Initially the influent contained 7.25 mg/L NO3-N and 0.3 mg/L NH4-N; the biofilm reactor removed most of the ammonium and nitrite but nitrate concentrations were only reduced by 20%. In the "sterile" reactor there was negligible removal of ammonium and nitrite indicating little nitrification, however nitrate was reduced by 72%, possibly due to assimilatory nitrate reduction associated with new biofilm development. When the influent contained 3 mg/L NO3-N and 16 mg/L NH4-N almost 100% removal and transformation of NH4-N occurred in both reactors providing an effluent high in NO3-N. Organic P was reduced but inorganic soluble P increased possibly due to mineralisation.     

Development and optimisation of VFA driven DEAMOX process for treatment of strong nitrogenous anaerobic effluents.

The recently proposed DEAMOX (DEnitrifying AMmonium OXidation) process combines the anammox reaction with autotrophic denitrifying conditions using sulphide as an electron donor for the production of nitrite from nitrate within an anaerobic biofilm. This paper firstly presents a feasibility study of the DEAMOX process using synthetic (ammonia + nitrate) wastewater where sulphide is replaced by volatile fatty acids (VFA) as a more widespread electron donor for partial denitrification. Under the influent N-NH+4/N-NO3(-) and COD/N-NO3(-) ratios of 1 and 2.3, respectively, the typical efficiencies of ammonia removal were around 40% (no matter whether a VFA mixture or only acetate were used) for nitrogen loading rates (NLR) up to 1236 mg N/l/d. This parameter increased to 80% by increasing the influent COD/N-NO3(-) ratio to 3.48 and decreasing the influent N-NH4 +/N-NO3(-) ratio to 0.29. As a result, the total nitrogen removal increased to 95%. The proposed process was further tested with typical strong nitrogenous effluent such as reject water (total N, 530-566 mg N/l; total COD, 1530-1780 mg/l) after thermophilic sludge anaerobic digestion. For this, the raw wastewater was split and partially ( approximately 50%) fed to a nitrifying reactor (to generate nitrate) and the remaining part ( approximately 50%) was directed to the DEAMOX reactor where this stream was mixed with the nitrified effluent. Stable process performance up to NLR of 1,243 mg N/l/d in the DEAMOX reactor was achieved resulting in 40, 100, and 66% removal of ammonia, NOx(-), and total nitrogen, respectively.     

曝气生物滤池去除有机物及氨氮的影响因素分析

采用以陶粒为填料的曝气生物滤池(BAF)处理生活污水,研究气水比、水力负荷、进水COD和NH3-N负荷对BAF去除COD及NH3-N的影响,分析COD及NH3-N沿滤柱的变化规律。结果表明:当试验进水COD及NH3-N质量浓度分别为300~370mg/L和20~40mg/L时,最佳气水比为4∶1~5∶1,最佳水力负荷为1.0~2.0 m3/(m2.h)。当进水COD负荷为1.69~6.47 kg/(m3.d)时,COD去除率与进水COD负荷成正相关。BAF的硝化性能与进水NH3-N和COD负荷成负相关。     

Feasibility study on the removal of nitrous compounds with a hollow-fiber membrane biofilm reactor.

The objective of this study was to develop an integrated nitrogen treatment system using autotrophic organisms. A treatment system consists of an aerobic hollow-fiber membrane biofilm reactor (HfMBR) and anaerobic HfMBR. In the aerobic HfMBR, a mixture gas of air and O2 was supplied through the fibers for nitrification. Denitrification occurred in the anaerobic HfMBR using H2 as the electron donor. The treatment system was continuously operated for 190 days. NH4-N removal efficiencies ranging from 95% to 97% were achieved at NH4-N concentrations of influent ranging from 50 to 100 mg N/L. When glucose was added to the influent, the simultaneous nitrification and denitrification occurred in the aerobic HfMBR, and nitrogen removal rates were changed according to the COD/NH4-N ratio of influent. In the anaerobic HfMBR, autotrophic denitrification using H2 occurred and the removal rates achieved in this study were 23-58 mg N/m2 d. In this study, the achieved removal efficiency was lower than other study findings; however, the result suggested that this hybrid HfMBR system can be used effectively for nitrogen removal in oligotrophic water.     

Performance of an in-situ rotating biological contactor in a recirculating aquaculture system

The start-up and activation of a nitrifying rotating biological contactor (RBC) and its performance inside a culture tank of rainbow trout were studied. First, in a lab-scale operation, the system was fed with a synthetic medium containing a high ammonia concentration (567 mg NH(4)(+)-N L(-1)) and operated at a high hydraulic retention time (HRT) (6.5 days) to minimize the wash-out of the biomass and promote the biofilm formation. Then, both inlet ammonia concentration and HRT were decreased in order to obtain operational conditions similar to those of the culture tank. During this period, the RBC was able to treat an ammonia loading rate (ALR) of 0.64 g N-NH(4)(+) L(-1) d(-1) with a removal efficiency within 70-100%. Pilot-scale experiments were carried out in culture tanks of rainbow trout. The operation of a recirculating system with the RBC unit was compared with a recirculating system without biological treatment and with a flow-through system. The use of this in-situ nitrifying unit allowed working at a recirculation ratio of 90% without negative effects on either growth or the condition factor of fishes. Up to 70% of ammonia generated was removed and a removal rate of 1.41 g NH(4)(+)-N m(-2) d(-1) was reached.     

Development of single-stage nitrogen removal using anammox and partial nitritation (SNAP) and its treatment performances.

Single-stage Nitrogen removal using Anammox and Partial nitritation (SNAP) process was newly developed as an economical nitrogen removal process for ammonium rich wastewaters. The experimental studies for the evaluation of SNAP process were carried out using a novel biofilm reactor, in which hydrophilic net-type acryl fiber biomass carrier was applied. This SNAP reactor was operated under operational conditions of pH 7.5-7.7, 35 degrees C and DO 2-3 mg/L, and 60 to 80% of influent NH4-N was removed under loading rate of 0.48 kg-N/m3/d. Through the DNA analysis of the attached sludge, it was made clear that ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anammox bacteria coexisted in the attach-immobilized sludge on the acryl fiber biomass carrier. Favorable conditions for the growth of anammox bacteria were created inside attach-immobilized nitrifying sludge. Two kinds of anammox bacteria and two kinds of AOB were detected in the SNAP sludge. Existence ratios of anammox and AOB were estimated to be 15% and 8.7%, respectively, based on the obtained clone numbers. This coexisting condition was confirmed by the FISH image of SNAP sludge and its confocal laser scanning microscope.     

Nitrification of high-strength ammonium wastewater by a fluidized-bed reactor.

A laboratory-scale fluidized-bed reactor with an external aeration loop was used for nitrification of high-strength ammonium wastewater (up to 500 mg NH4-N/L). The results demonstrated that the system is capable of handling ammonium removal rates of up to 2.5 kg NH4-N/m3 x d, while removal efficiencies were as high as 98% and independent of the applied ammonium loading rates. Ammonium loading rates higher than 2.5 kg NH4-N/m3 x d resulted in decreased ammonium removal efficiency. The data show that near complete ammonium removal occurred at DO concentrations as low as 0.3-0.5 mg/L. However, the nitrite-nitrogen fraction in the effluent increased from 3.5% to 23.2% when the DO dropped from 1.0 mg/L to approximately 0.4 mg/L, respectively. The high specific removal rates in this system are one order of magnitude higher than that of suspended-growth systems. This can reduce the supplementary reactor volumes required for nitrification to less than 10% of that needed in conventional activated sludge systems. These results clearly indicate the potential economic gains that could be achieved through implementation of this technology.     

Simulation of denitrification in groundwater from Chaohu Lake Catchment,China

The eutrophication of Chaohu Lake in China is mainly attributed to nitrate inflow from non-point sources in the lake catchment. In this study,biological nitrate reduction from groundwater in the Chaohu Lake Catchment was investigated under laboratory conditions in a continuous upflow reactor. Sodium acetate served as the carbon source and electron donor. Results showed that a carbon-to-nitrogen(C/N) molar ratio of 3:1 and hydraulic retention time(HRT) of 8 d could achieve the most rapid nitrate nitrogen(NO_3~--N) depletion(from 100 mg/L to 1 mg/L within120 h). This rate was confirmed when field groundwater was tested in the reactor, in which a NO_3~--N removal rate of 97.71% was achieved(from60.35 mg/L to 1.38 mg/L within 120 h). Different levels of the initial NO_3~--N concentration(30, 50, 70, and 100 mg/L) showed observable influence on the denitrification rates, with an overall average NO_3~--N removal efficiency of 98.25% at 120 h. Nitrite nitrogen(NO_2~--N)accumulated in the initial 12 h, and then kept decreasing, until it reached 0.0254 mg/L at 120 h. Compared with the initial value, there was a slight accumulation of 0.04 mg/L for the ammonia nitrogen(NH4-N) concentration in the effluent, which is, however, less than the limit value.These results can provide a reference for evaluating performance of denitrification in situ.     

Investigating the spatial-temporal variation of nitrogen cycling in an urban river in the North China Plain

Urban rivers are essential in retaining nutrients, but little is known about nitrogen cycling in these rivers in semiarid areas. We measured chemical and isotopic compositions of ammonium (NH4(+)-N) and nitrate (NO3(-)-N) to investigate spatial-temporal variation of nitrogen cycling in the Fuhe River in the North China Plain. Nitrogen pollution in the river was mainly induced by extra NH4(+)-N inputs which come from the discharges of urban sewage and effluents of wastewater treatment plants in upstream. NH4(+)-N obtained from decomposing organic matter of sediments can diffuse into the overlying water. Intense nitrification then occurs at the terrestrial-aquatic interface. Due to less vegetation in spring and autumn, loss of NH4(+)-N is mainly caused by nitrification. In contrast, significant NH4(+)-N is absorbed by plants in summer. NO3(-)-N generated from nitrification can be denitrified during the study period. The highest NO3(-)-N loss (about 86.3%) was observed in summer. The contribution of NO3(-)-N loss due to denitrification is 44.6%. The remaining 55.4% is due to plant uptake. The results suggested that nitrogen cycling in the river is related to temperature and dry-wet cycles. And vegetation restoration along the river could benefit the incremental improvements to the aquatic ecosystem.     

Degradation of organic matter from domestic wastewater with loofah sponge biofilm reactor

A laboratory-scale oxic biofilm reactor using loofah sponge as support material was carried out to study its start-up characteristics and the optimum operation parameters in removing organic matter and nitrogen from domestic wastewater. It took no more than 10 days to complete microbiological cultivation and acclimation, indicating that the natural loofah sponge was a superior support material compared with some conventional ones. The influence parameter experiments showed that the hydraulic retention time (HRT) had a significant influence on the COD and NH(3)-N removal efficiencies, the average COD and NH(3)-N removal efficiencies were 83.7 and 96.9% respectively when the temperature was 25 ± 2 °C, the influent flow rate was 0.21 L/h and the HRT was 7.5 h. The loofah sponge biofilm system had a strong tolerance to organic shock loading in the present experiment. Additionally, it was found that domestic wastewater could be preferably treated with 88.9% of COD and 98.7% of NH(3)-N removal efficiencies with the corresponding influent concentrations of 260.0 and 26.8 mg/L, respectively. The observations obtained in the present study indicated that the loofah sponge was an excellent natural support material, potentially feasible for the present system for the treatment of the decentralized domestic wastewater.     

Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of nitrifiers in piggery wastewater treatment reactors.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed to analyze the nitrifying microbial communities in an activated sludge reactor (ASR) and a fixed biofilm reactor (FBR) for piggery wastewater treatment. Heterotrophic oxidation and nitrification were occurring simultaneously in the ASR and the COD and nitrification efficiencies depend on the loads. In the FBR nitrification efficiency also depends on ammonium load to the reactor and nitrite was accumulated when free ammonia concentration was higher than 0.2 mg NH3-N/L. FISH analysis showed that ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (NSO1225) and denitrifying bacteria (RRP1088) were less abundant than other bacteria (EUB338) in ASR. Further analysis on nitrifying bacteria in the FBR showed that Nitrosomonas species (NSM156) and Nitrospira species (NSR1156) were the dominant ammonia-oxidizing and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, respectively, in the piggery wastewater nitrification system.     

低负荷下厌氧氨氧化处理养殖废水的启动研究

厌氧氨氧化作为新型生物脱氮技术其关键在于如何实现厌氧氨氧化反应的启动,现有研究多以模拟废水为研究对象,本文以猪场废水为对象的研究,利用ASBR为反应器,接种反硝化污泥培养厌氧氨氧化细菌,在NH+4-N与NO-2-N浓度均为100 mg/L的条件下,运行125 d,经历启动初期、过渡期、系统稳定运行期三个阶段,厌氧氨氧化反应器中NH+4-N的去除率达91.70%,NO-2-N去除率92.0%;NH+4-N的容积负荷为36.90 mg/L.d,NO-2-N的容积负荷为37.55 mg/(L.d),成功实现了厌氧氨氧化反应器的启动。该研究成果对厌氧氨氧化技术在工程实践的应用具有重要的指导意义。     

Full-scale applications for both COD and nutrient removal in a CIRCOX airlift reactor.

The airlift reactor technology has been successfully applied at full scale for both COD and nitrogen removal. In this study, the results of the biofilm development and biological performance of two full scale reactors are discussed. At Paulaner Brewery in Munich, the airlift reactor was applied for COD and ammonia removal of anaerobically treated wastewater. In the other case the airlift reactor was applied as a pretreatment of nitrogen removal by the Anammox process. Water from a Tannery company in Lichtenvoorde in the Netherlands, The Hulshof Royal Dutch Tanneries, was pretreated anaerobically for COD removal and aerobically to remove the sulphides as sulphur. In an airlift reactor the ammonia was partially oxidised to nitrite. In both cases the granular biomass developed well; the concentrations amounted to 250 microl/L and 500 ml/L respectively. In the first case, 4 kg/m(3)/day of COD was removed, the soluble concentration of COD was less than 250 mg/L. The nitrification to nitrate was nearly complete and amounted to 0.5 kg NH4-N/m(3)/day. In the second application, 50% of the ammonia (on average 0.45 kg N/m3/d) was nitrified to nitrite. This process was easily controlled by regulating the amount of air according to the nitrite and ammonia concentrations in the effluent. It can be concluded that in both cases the particular processes were very stable and easy to operate.     

Pumped flow biofilm reactors (PFBR) for treating municipal wastewater

A novel laboratory bench-scale sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) system was developed for the treatment of synthetic domestic strength wastewater, comprising two side-by-side 18 l reactor tanks, each containing a plastic biofilm media module. Aerobic and anoxic conditions in the biofilms were effected by intermittent alternate pumping of wastewater between the two reactors. With a media surface area loading rate of 4.2 g chemical oxygen demand (COD)/m2.d, the average influent COD, total nitrogen (TN) and ammonium-nitrogen (NH4-N) concentrations of 1021 mg/l, 97 mg/l and 54 mg/l, respectively, reduced to average effluent concentrations of 72 mg COD/l, 17.8 mg TN/l, and 5.5 mg NH4-N /l. Using a similar alternating biofilm exposure arrangement, a 16 person equivalent pilot (PE) plant was constructed at a local village treatment works to remove organic carbon from highly variable settled municipal wastewater and comprised two reactors, one positioned above the other, each containing a module of cross-flow plastic media with a surface area of 100 m2. Two different pumping sequences (PS) in the aerobic phase were examined where the average influent COD concentrations were 220 and 237 mg/l for PS1 and PS2, respectively, and the final average effluent COD was consistently less than 125 mg/l--the European Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive limit--with the best performance occurring in PS1. Nitrification was evident during both PS1 and PS2 studies. A 300 PE package treatment plant was designed based on the bench-scale and pilot-scale studies, located at a local wastewater treatment works and treated municipal influent with average COD, suspended solids (SS) and TN concentrations of 295, 183 and 15 mg/l, respectively resulting in average effluent concentrations of 67 mg COD/l, 17 mg SS/l and 9 mg TN/l. The SBBR systems performed well, and were simple to construct and operate.     

Aerobic granulation in a mechanical stirred SBR: treatment of low organic loads

Aerobic granular sludge was produced in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) characterized by a height to diameter ratio of 2.5 and the use of mechanical stirring. Compact and regular aerobic granules of up to 1.75 mm of average diameter were formed in the reactor with an organic loading rate of 1.75 kg COD/(m3 d). Settling properties of the obtained aggregates were: sludge volumetric index of 30-40 mL/g VSS and settling velocity higher than 8 m/h. The effects of different carbon to nitrogen ratios (TOC/N) in the feeding on the organic matter oxidation and nitrification process were studied. The concentration of organic matter in the feeding was stepwise reduced (from 190.0 to 37.5 mg TOC/L) and ammonium increased (from 25 to 50 mg NH4+ -N/L). TOC/N ratios of 7.50, 3.00, 1.50 and 0.75 g/g in the feeding were tested. The TOC removal percentage was around 80-95% during the whole operational period and the N removal percentages obtained in the reactor were up to 40%, however, physical properties of the granules were not maintained.     

Nitrogen removal from piggery waste using the combined SHARON and ANAMMOX process.

Nitrogen removal in piggery waste was investigated with the combined SHARON-ANAMMOX process. The piggery waste was characterized as strong nitrogenous wastewater with very low C/N ratio. For the preceding SHARON reactor, ammonium nitrogen loading and conversion rates were 0.97 kg NH4-N/m3 reactor/day and 0.73 kg NH4-N/m3 reactor/day, respectively. Alkalinity consumption for ammonium conversion was 8.5 gr bicarbonate utilized per gram ammonium nitrogen converted to NO2-N or NO3-N at steady-states operation. The successive ANAMMOX reactor was fed with the effluent from SHARON reactor. Nitrogen loading and conversion rates were 1.36 kg soluble N/m3 reactor/day and 0.72 kg soluble N/m3 reactor/day, respectively. The average NO2-N/NH4-N removal ratio by ANAMMOX reaction was 2.13. It has been observed that Candidatus "Kuenenia stuttgartiensis" were dominated in the ANAMMOX reactor based on FISH analysis.     

Use of real-time PCR to examine the relationship between ammonia oxidizing bacterial populations and nitrogen removal efficiency in a small decentralized treatment system 'Johkasou'.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between ammonia oxidizing bacterial populations and biological nitrogen removal in a small on-site domestic wastewater treatment system "Johkasou". The population dynamics of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in six full-scale advanced Johkasous was surveyed using real-time PCR assay over a period of one year. These Johkasous were selected to compare the AOB populations in different treatment performance. When the effluent NH4-N concentration was higher than 2 mg L(-1), it was difficult to meet the effluent standard of advanced Johkasous (T-N 10 mg L(-1)). In contrast, the nitrogen removal efficiency was hardly affected by nitrite oxidation and denitrification in these systems. In other words, ammonia oxidation was a rate-limiting step. Furthermore, we focused on the relationship between NH4-N loading per AOB cell and nitrogen removal. Real time PCR monitoring results demonstrated that it is important to regulate NH4-N loading per AOB cell below 210 pg cell(-1) day(-1) to meet the effluent standard of advanced Johkasou. It is considered that NH4-N loading per AOB cell is a useful parameter for determining suitable nitrogen loading and small decentralized system design.     

The use of microsensors to study the role of the loading rate and surface velocity on the growth and the composition of nitrifying biofilms

The good composition and activity of biofilms are very important for successful operation and control of fixed-film biological reactors employed in liquid effluents treatment. During the last decade, microsensors have been applied to study microbial ecology. These sensors could provide information regarding the microbial activity concerning nitrification and denitrification that occur inside biofilms. Other techniques of molecular biology, such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), have also contributed to this matter because their application aids in the identification of the bacterial populations that compose the biofilms. The focus of this paper was to study the loading rate and surface velocity to promote the development of nitrifying biofilms in three distinct flow cells that were employed in the post treatment of a synthetic wastewater simulating the effluent from a UASB (Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) reactor. Using the FISH technique, it was found that the population of ammonia-oxidizing-bacteria was greater than that of nitrite-oxidizing-bacteria; this was also supported by the lower production of nitrate determined by physicochemical and microsensor analyses. It was verified that the loading rate and surface velocity that promoted the greatest nitrogen removal were 0.25 g N-amon m(-2)biofilm day(-1) and 1 m h(-1), respectively.     

Characteristics of granular sludge in a single upflow sludge blanket reactor treating high levels of nitrate and simple organic compounds.

Simultaneous denitrification and methanogenesis were accomplished in a single upflow sludge blanket (USB) reactor. More than 99% and 95% of nitrate and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rates were obtained at a loading of 600 mg NO3-N/L x d and 3,300 mg COD/L x d, respectively. The specific denitrification rate (SDR) increased as COD/NO3-N ratios decreased. Maximum SDR with acetate could reach 1.05 g NO3-N/gVSS x d. Significant sludge flotation was observed at the top of the reactor due to the change of microbial composition and the formation of hollow granules. Granules became fluffy and buoyant due to the growth of denitrifiers. Microscopic examination showed that granules exhibited layered structure and they were mainly composed of Methanosarcina sp., Pseudomonas sp., and rod-shaped bacteria.