Controlling and monitoring of deammonification process in moving bed biofilm reactor

Sammanfattning: It is considered that partial nitrification combined with anammox, named deammonification, is more environmental friendly compared with conventional nitrification/denitrification due to decrease energy requirement, low emission of CO2 and N2O. Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a significant parameter influencing the nitrogen removal rate and activity of different microorganisms. A proper level of DO concentration is needed to allow ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) to produce a sufficient amount of NO2--N for anammox reaction. Too high NO2--N levels should be avoided as they cause inhibition effects on anammox bacteria or increase growth of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). In this study, investigations have been carried out, both in laboratory and pilot scales to evaluate the influence of different aeration strategies (characterized by dissolved oxygen concentration - DO and the ratio between non-aerated and aerated phase duration – R) on the deammonification process applied in the moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR). Three series of batch tests were conducted in laboratory scale with different DO concentrations (2, 3, 4 mg/l) and R values (0 - continuous aeration; 1/3, 1, 3 – intermittent aeration), the same initial ammonium concentration, volume of the reject water and temperature. It was found that the impact of DO on deammonification was dependent on the R value. At R=0 and R=1/3, an increase of DO caused a significant increase in nitrogen removal rate, whereas for R=1 and R=3 similar rates of the process were observed irrespectively of the DO. The highest nitrogen removal rate of 3.33 gN/m2·d was obtained at R=1/3 and DO=4 mg/l. Significantly lower nitrogen removal rates (1.17 - 1.58 gN/m2·d) were observed at R=1 and R=3 for each examined DO. It was a consequence of reduced aerated phase duration times and lower amounts of residual nitrite in non - aerated phases as compared to R=1/3. Pilot scale experiments were carried out in a MBBR with a working volume of 200 L. The pilot plant has been operated for 1.5 years to remove nitrogen from reject water after dewatering of digested sludge. The activity of different groups of microorganisms in the biofilm was measured by specific anammox activity (SAA), oxygen uptake rate (OUR) and nitrate utilization rate (NUR) tests. The whole operation was divided into seven periods according to different nitrogen loads and different aeration strategies. The highest nitrogen removal rate and efficiency was obtained when DO was 3.5 mg/l and R equaled to 1/3. Activity tests showed that anammox bacteria and AOB play the dominating roles in the biofilm. The average and maximum values of specific anammox activity (SAA) were 3.01 gN/m2·d and 4.3 gN/m2·d, respectively. An average value of 4.0 gO2/m2·d and the maximum value of 5.1 gO2/m2·d was obtained in the oxygen uptake rate for AOB activity tests. Study results showed that application of an appropriate selected aeration strategy reduced energy consumption without any negative impacts on the process. Introduction of anaerobic phases and high nitrogen load enhanced the activity of anammox bacteria and NOB activity was limited.