Search results for "NITROGEN REMOVAL"
showing 10 items of 23 documents
The effect of the solids and hydraulic retention time on moving bed membrane bioreactor performance
2018
Abstract The aim of the present paper was to investigate the effect of solids (SRT) and hydraulic (HRT) retention time on Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) University of Cape Town (UCT) membrane Bioreactor (MBR). In particular, three different pairs of SRT and HRT values were analysed, namely, Phase I 56 d/30 h, Phase II 31 d/15 h and Phase III 7 d/13 h. The short-term effect of these three SRT/HRT conditions was assessed by analysing several system performance indicators: organic carbon and biological nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) removal, biomass respiratory activity, activated sludge filtration properties and membrane fouling. The results showed that the decrease of SRT/…
Monitoring pH and ORP in a SHARON reactor
2011
This paper analyses the valuable information provided by the on-line measurements of pH and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) in a continuous single high ammonia removal over nitrite (SHARON) reactor. A laboratory-scale SHARON reactor equipped with pH, ORP, electric conductivity and dissolved oxygen (DO) probes has been operated for more than one year. Nitrogen removal over nitrite has been achieved by adding methanol at the beginning of anoxic stages. Time evolution of pH and ORP along each cycle allows identifying the decrease in nitritation rate when ammonia is consumed during the aerobic phase and the end of the denitrification process during the anoxic phase. Therefore, monitoring pH…
Achieving complete nitrification below the washout SRT with hybrid membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) treating municipal wastewater
2021
This study analyzed the performances of a hybrid membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) pilot plant in terms of nutrients removal of the attached growth and suspended biomass in comparison with a conventional activated sludge (CAS) system at different sludge retention time (SRT) (20−3) days. Overall, the MABR showed better performances than the CAS in terms of TSS (86% vs 79%), COD (89% vs 85%) and total nitrogen (80% vs 65%). The minimum SRT for achieving complete nitrification in the MABR was close to 3 days, corresponding to a SRT in the aerobic compartment of 1.9 days, whereas in the CAS it was equal to 8 days (aerobic SRT of 4.8 days). Nitrification rate in biofilm was on average equa…
Achievement of partial nitrification under different carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and ammonia loading rate for the co-treatment of landfill leachate with…
2019
Abstract Partial nitrification (PN) is a technically and economically effective solution for the treatment of wastewater featuring low C/N ratio, allowing to achieve approximately 25% energy saving and 40% carbon source for denitrification. This study investigated the effect of different carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N) and ammonia loading rate (ALR) on PN performances in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating landfill leachate with municipal wastewater. The aim was to find an optimum range for C/N and ALR to maximize PN performances. Results demonstrated that a proper balancing between ALR and C/N is crucial to achieve high PN efficiency. The results highlighted the existence of an optimu…
Biological nutrient removal using intermittent aeration in a hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor
2012
The paper presents an experimental study on a lab scale pilot plant in a Hybrid Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor. The pilot plant was fed with synthetic wastewater and was in operation considering two different operating conditions: continuous aeration and intermittent aeration. Both continuous and intermittent aeration were monitored and compared in order to seek the best conditions for carbon and nitrogen removal. At the beginning of the experimentation, an initial period of about 90 days was considered during which the pilot plant worked in bench scale configuration for allowing the formation of biofilm on the carriers. Once the biofilm growth was accomplished, the pilot plant worked for a fir…
Sequential batch membrane bio-reactor for wastewater treatment: The effect of increased salinity
2016
In this work, a sequential batch membrane bioreactor pilot plant is investigated to analyze the effect of a gradual increase in salinity on carbon and nutrient removal, membrane fouling and biomass kinetic parameters. The salinity was increased by 2 g NaCl L-1 per week up to 10 g NaCl L-1. The total COD removal efficiency was quite high (93%) throughout the experiment. A gradual biomass acclimation to the salinity level was observed during the experiment, highlighting the good recovery capabilities of the system. Nitrification was also influenced by the increase in salinity, with a slight decrease in nitrification efficiency (the lowest value was obtained at 10 g NaCl L-1 due to lower nitri…
Application of the Morris method for screening the influential parameters of fuzzy controllers applied to wastewater treatment plants
2011
In this paper,we evaluate the application of a sensitivity analysis to help fine-tuning a fuzzy controller for a biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal (BNPR) plant. TheMorris Screeningmethod is proposed and evaluated as a prior step to obtain the parameter significance ranking. First, an iterative procedure has been performed in order to find out the proper repetition number of the elementary effects (r) of the method. The optimal repetition number found in this study (r = 60) is in direct contrast to previous applications of the Morris method, which usually use low repetition number, e.g. r = 10 ~ 20. Working with a non-proper repetition number (r) could lead to Type I error (identify…
Influence of carbon to nitrogen ratio on nitrous oxide emission in an Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge Membrane BioReactor plant
2018
Abstract In this study a University of Cape Town (UCT) Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) Membrane BioReactor (MBR) wastewater treatment plant was monitored in terms of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. The short term effect on the N2O emission due to the influent carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio variation (C/N ratios of 2, 5 and 10 gCOD/gN) was evaluated. Since in a previous study, the effect of the C/N ratio was studied in the same system without biofilm (UCT-MBR configuration) the main aim here was to investigate the role of biofilms on N2O emissions. Under all the investigated C/N ratios, the N2O fluxes and the average emission factors were lower than that of previous studies with…
High Nitrogen Removal in a Constructed Wetland Receiving Treated Wastewater in a Cold Climate
2018
Constructed wetlands provide cost-efficient nutrient removal, with minimal input of human labor and energy, and their number is globally increasing. However, in northern latitudes, wetlands are rarely utilized, because their nutrient removal efficiency has been questioned due to the cold climate. Here, we studied nutrient retention and nitrogen removal in a boreal constructed wetland (4-ha) receiving treated nitrogen-rich wastewater. On a yearly basis, most of the inorganic nutrients were retained by the wetland. The highest retention efficiency was found during the ice-free period, being 79% for ammonium-nitrogen (NH4+-N), 71% for nitrate-nitrogen (NO3--N), and 88% for phosphate-phosphorus…
An advanced control strategy for biological nutrient removal in continuous systems based on pH and ORP sensors
2012
[EN] A fuzzy logic-based control system that uses low-cost sensors for controlling and optimizing the biological nitrogen removal in continuous systems has been developed. The novelty of this control system is the use of several pH, ORP, and dissolved oxygen (DO) sensors instead of on-line nitrogen sensors/analyzers. The nitrogen control system was developed and implemented in a UCT pilot plant fed with wastewater from a full-scale plant. The developed nitrification controller allows the effluent ammonium concentration to be maintained below the effluent criteria discharge with the minimum energy consumption. The denitrification process controller allows the energy consumption derived from …