Aeration phase length control and step-feed of wastewater are used to achieve nitrogen removal from wastewater via nitrite in sequencing batch reactors (SBR). Aeration is switched off as soon as ammonia oxidation is completed, which is followed by the addition of a fraction of the wastewater that the SBR receives over a cycle to facilitate denitrification. The end-point of ammonia oxidation is detected from the on-line measured pH and oxygen uptake rate (OUR). The method was implemented in an SBR achieving biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal from anaerobically pre-treated abattoir wastewater. The degree of nitrite accumulation during the aeration period was monitored along with the variation in the nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) population using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques. It is demonstrated that the nitrite pathway could be repeatedly and reliably achieved, which significantly reduced the carbon requirement for nutrient removal. Model-based studies show that the establishment of the nitrite pathway was primarily the result of a gradual reduction of the amount of nitrite that is available to provide energy for the growth of NOB, eventually leading to the elimination of NOB from the system.

A sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system is demonstrated to biologically remove nitrogen, phosphorus and chemical oxygen demand (COD) to very low levels from abattoir wastewater. Each 6 h cycle contained three anoxic/anaerobic and aerobic sub-cycles with wastewater fed at the beginning of each anoxic/anaerobic period. The step-feed strategy was applied to avoid high-level build-up of nitrate or nitrite during nitrification, and therefore to facilitate the creation of anaerobic conditions required for biological phosphorus removal. A high degree removal of total phosphorus (>98%), total nitrogen (>97%) and total COD (>95%) was consistently and reliably achieved after a 3-month start-up period. The concentrations of total phosphate and inorganic nitrogen in the effluent were consistently lower than 0.2 mg P l(-1) and 8 mg N l(-1), respectively. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that the sludge was enriched in Accumulibacter spp. (20-40%), a known polyphosphate accumulating organism, whereas the known glycogen accumulating organisms were almost absent. The SBR received two streams of abattoir wastewater, namely the effluent from a full-scale anaerobic pond (75%) and the effluent from a lab-scale high-rate pre-fermentor (25%), both receiving raw abattoir wastewater as feed. The pond effluent contained approximately 250 mg N l(-1) total nitrogen and 40 mg P l(-1) of total phosphorus, but relatively low levels of soluble COD (around 500 mg l(-1)). The high-rate lab-scale pre-fermentor, operated at 37 degrees C and with a sludge retention time of 1 day, proved to be a cheap and effective method for providing supplementary volatile fatty acids allowing for high-degree of biological nutrient removal from abattoir wastewater.

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Nitrogen removal via the nitrite pathway results in significant savings in both aeration costs and COD requirements for denitrification when compared to the conventional biological nitrogen removal process. Implementation of the nitrite pathway for simultaneous C/N/P removal in a single sludge system has a major drawback: the aeration phase disfavours denitrifying phosphorus removal. A possible configuration to overcome this issue is the utilisation of a two-sludge system where autotrophic and heterotrophic populations are physically separated. This paper experimentally demonstrates the feasibility of a nitrite-based two-sludge system with sequencing batch reactors (SBR) for the treatment of urban wastewater: a heterotrophic SBR with denitrifying PAOs for P removal and an aerobic SBR for N removal. Partial nitrification was attained in the autotrophic SBR so that shortcut biological nitrogen removal was achieved by using the anoxic dephosphatation activity of DPAOs. Finally, the effect of operating this system without pH control was studied using different influent pH values (pH = 6.8, 7.5 and 8.2) and, despite some efficiency lost due to the pH fluctuations, the system was able to remove most of the C, N and P present in the wastewater.