Examples of energy self-sufficient municipal nutrient removal plants

In Austria, two municipal WWTPs (the Strass TP and Wolfgangsee-Ischl TP) operated with nutrient removal and aerobic sludge digestion are now energy self-sufficient. This is the result of a longstanding and on-going optimisation process at both plants including optimal aeration control and control of the aerobic section of the aeration tank to optimise denitrification and prevent degradation of particulate organic matter that should be degraded in the digester. Both TPs are now equipped with energy-efficient CHP units. However, it is maybe more sustainable to use the biogas as biomethane/bio-fuel than in conventional CHP at the WWTP. It is shown that energy self-sufficiency should be in reach at other municipal WWTPs, too.     

A combined UASB-MBR with shortcut nitrification-denitrification for energy reduction in wastewater reclamation

Shortcut nitrification has been successfully applied in a laboratory scale nitrification-denitrification process consisting of an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) and an aerobic membrane bioreactor (MBR) in treating synthetic and municipal wastewater to simultaneously remove organic carbon and nitrogen. For the treatment of synthetic wastewater, the combined system exhibited a high TOC removal of 98% with a steady ammonia removal efficiency of about 98% in the MBR and a total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency of 90%. In treating municipal wastewater, due to its low COD concentration, removal efficiencies of TOC, ammonia and TN were 70%, 98% and 60%, respectively. The biogas production was around 76.4 L/m3 wastewater when treating synthetic wastewater. However, little biogas was produced when treating municipal wastewater which was the result of low organic carbon loading to the UASB. Energy analysis has demonstrated that this novel shortcut nitrification process could consume less energy than a conventional process and have the potential of bio-energy generation via biogas production thus helping to achieve a more favorable energy balance.     

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%).     

Performance and microbial ecology of the hybrid membrane biofilm process for concurrent nitrification and denitrification of wastewater.

We report on a novel process for total nitrogen (TN) removal, the hybrid membrane biofilm process (HMBP). The HMBP uses air-supplying hollow-fibre membranes inside an activated sludge tank, with suppressed aeration, to allow concurrent nitrification and denitrification. We hypothesised that a nitrifying biofilm would form on the membranes, and that the low bulk-liquid BOD concentrations would encourage heterotrophic denitrifying bacteria to grow in suspension. A nitrifying biofilm was initially established by supplying an influent ammonia concentration of 20 mgN/L. Subsequently, 120 mg/L acetate was added to the influent as BOD. With a bulk-liquid SRT of only 5 days, nitrification rates were 0.85 gN/m(2) per day and the TN removal reached 75%. The biofilm thickness was approximately 500 lim. We used DGGE to obtain a microbial community fingerprint of suspended and attached growth, and prepared a clone library. The DGGE results, along with the clone library and operating data, suggest that nitrifying bacteria were primarily attached to the membranes, while heterotrophic bacteria were predominant in the bulk liquid. Our results demonstrate that the HMBP is effective for TN removal, achieving high levels of nitrification with a low bulk-liquid SRT and concurrently denitrifying with BOD as the sole electron donor.     

Performance of high-rate sludge digesters fed with sonicated sludge.

A major limitation of anaerobic sludge digestion is the long hydraulic retention time (HRT) required for satisfactory stabilization which results in large digester size. This study explored a possibility of operating digesters at shortened HRTs by sonication pretreatment of secondary sludges. Four identical digesters designated D1, D2, D3 and D4 were fed with untreated and sludge sonicated at densities of 0.18 W/ml, 0.33 W/ml and 0.52 W/ml, respectively. All digesters were operated at three HRTs of 8-day, 4-day and 2-day. Comparing with the control digester (D1), total solids removal efficiencies improved by 12-19%, 17-36% and 20-39% in digesters D2, D3 and D4, respectively. The volatile solids removal was also increased by 11-21%, 17-33% and 19-36% in the respective digesters. The improved solids degradation corresponded with increase in biogas production by 1.4-2.5, 1.9-3.0 and 1.6-3.1 times, respectively. Increase in methane composition by 2-17% was also noted in all digesters fed with sonicated sludge. An analysis indicated that sonication pretreatment could enhance degradation of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur substances in the digestion. The study suggested that sonication of sludge is a possible pretreatment to shorten the digester operating HRT with improvement in solids degradation, biogas production and methane content. It can be deduced that to maintain a consistent solids loading at a desire performance, sludge digester with smaller size can be designed.     

Nitrite accumulation followed by denitrification using sequencing batch reactor.

Biological ammonia-nitrogen removal utilizes two distinct processes, nitrification and denitrification. In nitrification, ammonia oxidizes to nitrite then to nitrate. In this study, elimination of nitrite oxidation to nitrate step was attempted in order to directly remove nitrite to nitrogen gas by denitrification. For this study the supernatant from an anaerobic digester was used as an ammonia source and a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was employed. Emphasis was given to the evaluation of the operational factors affecting nitrite accumulation and the elucidation of kinetics for biological nitrification and denitrification. Accumulation of nitrite in the nitrification process was achieved by suppressing the growth of Nitrobacter, a nitrite oxidizer, by loading high concentration ammonia supernatant immediately after all ammonia in the previous loading was oxidized to nitrite. Nitrite oxidation was taking place as the solid retention time (SRT) was increased from 2.5 days to 3.0 days in a continuously aerated SBR mode with daily feeding. However, nitrite accumulation was achieved even at longer SRT of 5 days when the aeration and non-aeration periods were appropriately combined and the non-aeration period can be used for denitrification of the accumulated nitrite with a carbon source supplied.     

Improvement of nitrogen removal at WWTP Zürich Werdh?elzli after connection of WWTP Zürich-Glatt.

Optimisation of nitrifying activated sludge plants towards nutrient removal (denitrification and enhanced P-removal) leads to a substantial reduction of operating costs and improves effluent and operating conditions. At WWTP Zürich-Werdh?elzli, initially designed for nitrification only, an anoxic zone of 28% of total activated sludge volume was installed and allowed 60% nitrogen elimination besides several other optimisations. In 2001 the operation of WWTP Zürich-Glatt was stopped and the wastewater was connected to WWTP Werdh?elzli. To improve nitrogen removal, WWTP Werdh?elzli co-financed two research projects; one for separate digester supernatant treatment with the anammox process operating two SBRs in series and the other applying NH4 sensors for aeration control in order to decrease energy consumption and raise effluent quality. The results of both projects and the consequences for WWTP Werdh?elzli are discussed in this paper.     

Aerobic biological treatment of thermophilically digested sludge

Aerobic biological treatment of digested sludge was studied in a continuously operated laboratory set-up. An aerated reactor was filled with thermophilically digested sludge from the Moscow wastewater treatment plant and inoculated with special activated sludge. It was then operated at the chemostat mode at different flow rates. Processes of nitrification and denitrification, as well as dephosphatation, occurred simultaneously during biological aerobic treatment of thermophilically digested sludge. Under optimal conditions, organic matter degradation was 9.6%, the concentrations of ammonium nitrogen and phosphate decreased by 89 and 83%, respectively, while COD decreased by 12%. Dewaterability of digested sludge improved significantly. The processes were found to depend on hydraulic retention time, oxygen regime, and temperature. The optimal conditions were as follows: hydraulic retention time 3-4 days, temperature 30-35 degrees C, dissolved oxygen levels 0.2-0.5 mg/L at continuous aeration or 0.7-1 mg/L at intermittent aeration. Based on these findings, we propose a new combined technology of wastewater sludge treatment. The technology combines two stages: anaerobic digestion followed by aerobic biological treatment of digested sludge. The proposed technology makes it possible to degrade the sludge with conversion of approximately 45% volatile suspended solids to biogas, to improve nitrogen and phosphorus removal in reject water from sludge treatment units, and to achieve removal of malodorous substances after 8-9 days of anaerobic-aerobic sludge treatment.     

Robustness of the microaerobic removal of hydrogen sulfide from biogas

Several disturbances presented in full-scale digesters can potentially affect the efficiency of the microaerobic removal process. This study evaluates the variation of the sulfur load and the performance of the system in situations of oxygen lack or excess and after normal rates are recovered. The process was shown to recover from oxygen lack or excess within 28 h when the original conditions were restored in a pilot-plant digester of 200 L treating sewage sludge with HRT of 20 days. The decrease of the sulfur load to the digester did not affect the biogas composition in the short-term and when oxygen rate was reduced to adjust to the lower hydrogen sulfide production, the removal proceeded normally with a lower unemployed oxygen amount. The digester opening to remove accumulated sulfur in the headspace did not alter process performance once the microaerobic removal was restarted.     

Optimization of the performance of an integrated anaerobic-aerobic system for domestic wastewater treatment

A promising system consisting of Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) and Down-Flow Hanging Sponge (DHS) system was investigated for removal of COD, BOD(5) fractions, ammonia and faecal coliform from domestic wastewater. The combined system was operated at different HRTs of 16, 11 and 8 h. The results indicate that increasing the total HRT from 8 to 16 h significantly (p < 0.05) improves the COD(total) and BOD(5 total) removal mainly as a result of a higher removal of COD(soluble), BOD(soluble), COD(particulate) and BOD(particulate). The main part of coarse suspended solids was removed in the UASB reactor (76.4+/-18%) and the remaining portion was adsorbed and/or enmeshed and degraded in the biomass of the DHS system. The combined system achieved a substantial reduction of total suspended solids (TSS) resulting in an average overall percentage removal of 94+/-6% (HRT = 16 h) and 89.5+/-7.8% (HRT = 8 h). Faecal coliform reduction was significantly improved when increasing the total HRT from 8 to 16 h. Residual counts of faecal coliform were 3.1 x 10(3)/100 ml at a total HRT of 16 h, and 2.8 x 10(4)/100 ml at total HRT of 8 h, corresponding to overall removal efficiency of 99.97+/-0.03 and 99.6+/-0.3% respectively. Despite the increase of ammonia concentration as a result of protein hydrolysis in the UASB reactor, a substantial removal of ammonia was achieved in the DHS system. The results obtained show that decreasing the OLR imposed to DHS system from 2.6 to 1.6 kg COD/m(3).d significantly (p < 0.05) improves the removal efficiency of ammonia by a value of 29%. However, the removal efficiency of ammonia is not further increased when decreasing the OLR from 1.6 to 1.3 kg COD/m(3).d. The discharged sludge from UASB + DHS system exerts a good settling property and partially stabilized.DHS profile results have shown that the major part of COD, BOD(5), and TSS was removed in the upper part of the system, consequently, the nitrification process was occurring in the lower part of the DHS system.     

Achieving and maintaining of short-cut nitrification in a cyclic activated sludge system

A lab-scale Cyclic Activated Sludge Technology (CAST) system was operated more than 5 months to evaluate the effects of the operation mode on nitrogen removal performance and investigate a feasible method for achieving short-cut nitrification in the system. Results showed that nitrogen was removed by conventional biological nitrification and denitrification in traditional operation mode (fill/aeration 2 h, settle 1 h, decant 1 h), whereas short-cut nitrification and denitrification was the main nitrogen removal pathway in modified operation mode and the nitrogen removal performance was enhanced. Short-cut nitrification was successfully achieved in CAST system at 17 ± 1 °C by adjusting operation conditions and the average total nitrogen removal efficiency increased by 11.4% compared to traditional mode. It was assumed that low dissolved oxygen (<1.0 mg/L) limitation combined with free ammonia (0.28-0.34 mg/L) inhibition on nitrite-oxidizing bacteria caused nitrite accumulation in modified mode. During maintaining period of short-cut nitrification, preset aeration time enhanced ammonium-oxidizing bacteria dominance. It was also found that low DO could result in overgrowth of filamentous microorganisms and poor sludge settleability. The pH variation could provide effective information for controlling aeration duration in modified mode. However, no evident breakpoint appeared on pH and DO profiles in traditional mode.     

Sludge as source of energy and revenue.

Sludge is a residue/product from wastewater treatment plants and contains most of the contaminants released during human activities. Some stringent environmental regulations on sludge treatment and disposal exist in many countries. This has resulted in increasing interest in sludge treatment methods that encourage sludge reduction and improvement in biogas production during anaerobic digestion processes. This work demonstrates the first exploitation of valuable energy from homogenised sludge at technical scale with mass reduction. The optimal combination of sludge homogenisation at relatively low pressures using a modified high-pressure homogeniser led to the success of this unique project. Results showed that about 30% more energy could be obtained from thickened and disrupted sludge than from untreated samples. The energy produced was higher than that invested during disruption and digestion processes. About 23% sludge reduction was also observed with no increase in chemical oxygen demand. This new process can produce extra energy for local electrification and heating the digester while the sludge reduction provides economic benefits. Concentration of sludge causes reduction in investment cost on digester as well as reduction in operational time for sludge dewatering.     

Anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse waste with UF-membrane separation and recycling of permeate after free ammonia stripping.

Anaerobic digestion can adapt to free ammonia to a certain extent. During the anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse waste, however, an ammonia concentration of up to 15 g Nl(-1) can be reached in the sludge liquid and this will even inhibit adapted sludge. To lower this concentration, a fraction of the digester liquid must therefore be continuously separated from the digested sludge and the free ammonia stripped before the liquid is recycled to the digester. A mesophilic laboratory digester was successfully operated with an ammonium concentration of 4-5g l(-1) and a pH of 8.0-8.4. After free ammonia stripping, the excess liquid was treated in a laboratory SBR for nitrogen and phosphorus removal before being added to the receiving water. The effluent had no toxic effect on daphnia and algae.     

Nitrogen removal from pharmaceutical manufacturing wastewater with high concentration of ammonia and free ammonia via partial nitrification and denitrification.

In this study, laboratory-scale experiments were conducted applying a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) activated sludge process to a wastewater stream from a pharmaceutical factory. Nitrogen removal can be achieved via partial nitrification and denitrification and the efficiency was above 99% at 23 degrees C+/-1. The experimental results indicated that the nitrite oxidizers were more sensitive than ammonia oxidizers to the free ammonia in the wastewater. The average accumulation rate of nitrite was much higher than that of nitrate. During nitrogen removal via the nitrite pathway, the end of nitrification and denitrification can be exactly decided by monitoring the variation of pH. Consequently, on-line control for nitrogen removal from the pharmaceutical manufacturing wastewater can be achieved and the cost of operation can be reduced.     

城市污水生物除磷脱氮工艺中的矛盾关系及对策

目前 ,城市污水处理厂的处理对象包括COD、BOD5、SS和氮、磷等营养物质。就氮磷脱除而言 ,一般需涉及硝化、反硝化、微生物释磷和吸磷等过程。由于各过程的要求不同 ,在同一污水处理工艺系统中就不可避免地产生了各过程间的矛盾关系。针对泥龄问题、碳源问题、硝酸盐问题、系统的硝化和反硝化容量问题、释磷吸磷的容量问题进行了探讨     

Nitrogen removal from sludge digester liquids by nitrification/denitrification or partial nitritation/anammox: environmental and economical considerations.

In wastewater treatment plants with anaerobic sludge digestion, 15-20% of the nitrogen load is recirculated to the main stream with the return liquors from dewatering. Separate treatment of this ammonium-rich digester supernatant significantly reduces the nitrogen load of the activated sludge system. Two biological applications are considered for nitrogen elimination: (i) classical autotrophic nitrification/heterotrophic denitrification and (ii) partial nitritation/autotrophic anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox). With both applications 85-90% nitrogen removal can be achieved, but there are considerable differences in terms of sustainability and costs. The final gaseous products for heterotrophic denitrification are generally not measured and are assumed to be nitrogen gas (N2). However, significant nitrous oxide (N2O) production can occur at elevated nitrite concentrations in the reactor. Denitrification via nitrite instead of nitrate has been promoted in recent years in order to reduce the oxygen and the organic carbon requirements. Obviously this "achievement" turns out to be rather disadvantageous from an overall environmental point of view. On the other hand no unfavorable intermediates are emitted during anaerobic ammonium oxidation. A cost estimate for both applications demonstrates that partial nitritation/anammox is also more economical than classical nitrification/denitrification. Therefore autotrophic nitrogen elimination should be used in future to treat ammonium-rich sludge liquors.     

Upgrading of Borås wastewater treatment plant based on intelligent process and operation control

Boras wastewater treatment plant is being upgraded to comply with the new effluent standards for nitrogen. Three different configurations have been tested in parallel in full scale in the existing activated sludge plant The Biodenitro operated line showed the best performance because of the flexible adjustment of the nitrification and denitrification capacity. The adjustment was made off-line with the aid of continuous ammonia and nitrate measurements. On-line sensors are now installed permanently at Boris wastewater treatment plant and will be used for on-line dynamic control of the nitrogen removal in a Biodenitro configuration. The plant capacity will be further increased by Killing in the aeration tanks in situations with high hydraulic load.     

Two-stage thermophilic-mesophilic anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge from a biological nutrient removal plant.

A two-stage thermophilic-mesophilic anaerobic digestion pilot-plant was operated solely on waste activated sludge (WAS) from a biological nutrient removal (BNR) plant. The first-stage thermophilic reactor (HRT 2 days) was operated at 47, 54 and 60 degrees C. The second-stage mesophilic digester (HRT 15 days) was held at a constant temperature of 36-37 degrees C. For comparison with a single-stage mesophilic process, the mesophilic digester was also operated separately with an HRT of 17 days and temperature of 36-37 degrees C. The results showed a truly thermophilic stage (60 degrees C) was essential to achieve good WAS degradation. The lower thermophilic temperatures examined did not offer advantages over single-stage mesophilic treatment in terms of COD and VS removal. At a thermophilic temperature of 60 degrees C, the plant achieved 35% VS reduction, representing a 46% increase compared to the single-stage mesophilic digester. This is a significant level of degradation which could make such a process viable in situations where there is no primary sludge generated. The fate of the biologically stored phosphorus in this BNR sludge was also investigated. Over 80% of the incoming phosphorus remained bound up with the solids and was not released into solution during the WAS digestion. Therefore only a small fraction of phosphorus would be recycled to the main treatment plant with the dewatering stream.     

Comparative studies on the differently operated trains of the North-Budapest Wastewater Treatment Plant

In order to reduce the pollution load of the Danube, the North-Budapest Wastewater Treatment Plant has been upgraded to enhanced nitrogen removal by establishing a new activated sludge treatment line and modifying the existing unit for nitrification and denitrification. As both the influent flow rate and the influent chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD(5)) and total suspended solids (TSS) concentration levels remained far below the design values, setting one fourth of the reactor volume out of operation in the Old Line, and operating the nitrification reactor of the New Line with part-time aeration proved to be possible. Analytical data as well as simulation studies supported the advantage of the intermittent-aeration process in efficient N-removal. However, the lengths of the aerated periods have to be increased with decreasing temperature, and thereby effluent total nitrogen (TN) concentration can increase due to decreasing denitrification efficiency. Potential occurrence of low-dissolved oxygen (DO) bulking should be hindered through applying an efficient anoxic selector system.     

Trickling filters for upgrading low technology wastewater plants for nitrogen removal.

Previous work through the 1990s in the Thames Water region in the UK has demonstrated the ability of the trickling filter process to produce fully nitrified effluents, reliably throughout the year. The original data used for the nitrification model derivations have been reanalysed, to investigate the degree of nitrogen removal across the process. Removals of total nitrogen ranging from 0% to over 50% were observed across the trickling filter process and calculated total nitrogen removals of 26-63% were obtained when primary treatment was included. The degree of nitrogen removal and biological denitrification (excluding cellular assimilation) was found to be strongly influenced by BOD load, irrigation velocity and media size. Regression models were produced which gave good predictive relationships for the data ranges used. The models produced worked for filters used with and without a recirculation of effluent nitrate which suggests that a significant degree of nitrification occurred in areas of high heterotroph activity (BOD removal). The simplicity and energy efficiency of the trickling filter process, combined with its capacity for full nitrification and partial denitrification, make the process attractive as a combined process used with pond systems in developing countries where nitrogen removal may be required. Some of these synergies have already been developed with the PETRO process in South Africa.