Analysing the effects of the aeration pattern and residual ammonium concentration in a partial nitritation-anammox process

Corbala-Robles, L.; Picioreanu, Cristian; Loosdrecht, M.C.M. van; Pérez, Julio

doi:10.1080/09593330.2015.1077895

Cited by 55 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…In fact, aerobic guilds tend to prefer smaller aggregates ( e.g. flocs) with less diffusion limitations than biofilms (Corbala-Robles et al., 2015, Vlaeminck et al., 2010, Volcke et al., 2010, Winkler et al., 2012). In the H-MBBR, about 35% of AOB and 25% of NOB grew in suspension (as estimated by multiplying the qFISH relative abundances and the TSS of the biofilm and flocs, Table 2).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…thick biofilms) and the aerobic AOB and NOB guilds tend to preferentially populate smaller aggregates ( e.g. flocs) with less diffusion limitations (Corbala-Robles et al., 2015, Vlaeminck et al., 2010, Volcke et al., 2010, Winkler et al., 2012). The coexistence of biofilm and flocs has been shown to improve the PN/A performance and the NOB suppression at high temperatures (>25 °C), both on digester supernatant (Veuillet et al., 2014) and pre-treated MWW (Malovanyy et al., 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mainstream partial nitritation and anammox: long-term process stability and effluent quality at low temperatures

et al. 2016

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The implementation of autotrophic anaerobic ammonium oxidation processes for the removal of nitrogen from municipal wastewater (known as “mainstream anammox”) bears the potential to bring wastewater treatment plants close to energy autarky. The aim of the present work was to assess the long-term stability of partial nitritation/anammox (PN/A) processes operating at low temperatures and their reliability in meeting nitrogen concentrations in the range of typical discharge limits below 2 mgNH4-N·normalL−1 and 10 mgNtot·L−1. Two main 12-L sequencing batch reactors were operated in parallel for PN/A on aerobically pre-treated municipal wastewater (21 ± 5 mgNH4-N·normalL−1 and residual 69 ± 19 mgCODtot·L−1) for more than one year, including over 5 months at 15 °C. The two systems consisted of a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) and a hybrid MBBR (H-MBBR) with flocculent biomass. Operation at limiting oxygen concentrations (0.15–0.18 mgnormalO2·normalL−1) allowed stable suppression of the activity of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria at 15 °C with a production of nitrate over ammonium consumed as low as 16% in the MBBR. Promising nitrogen removal rates of 20–40 mgN·L−1·d−1 were maintained at hydraulic retention times of 14 h. Stable ammonium and total nitrogen removal efficiencies over 90% and 70% respectively were achieved. Both reactors reached average concentrations of total nitrogen below 10 mgN·L−1 in their effluents, even down to 6 mgN·L−1 for the MBBR, with an ammonium concentration of 2 mgN·L−1 (set as operational threshold to stop aeration). Furthermore, the two PN/A systems performed almost identically with respect to the biological removal of organic micropollutants and, importantly, to a similar extent as conventional treatments. A sudden temperature drop to 11 °C resulted in significant suppression of anammox activity, although this was rapidly recovered after the temperature was increased back to 15 °C. Analyses of 16S rRNA gene-targeted amplicon sequencing revealed that the anammox guild of the bacterial communities of the two systems was composed of the genus “Candidatus Brocadia”. The potential of PN/A systems to compete with conventional treatments for biological nutrients removal both in terms of removal rates and overall effluent quality was proven.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mainstream partial nitritation and anammox: long-term process stability and effluent quality at low temperatures

et al. 2016

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“…Furthermore, the introduction of non-aerated phases has shown to enhance the activity of AnAOB in single-stage PN/A systems ( Yang et al., 2015 ). However, Corbala-Robles et al. (2016) determined a reduction in AnAOB performance during periods of high oxygen concentration using intermittent aeration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membrane aerated biofilm reactors for mainstream partial nitritation/anammox: Experiences using real municipal wastewater

et al. 2020

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This study investigated the potential of Membrane-Aerated Biofilm Reactors (MABRs) for mainstream nitrogen removal via partial nitration/anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox). Four laboratory-scale MABRs were operated with real municipal wastewater characterized by low concentrations of nitrogen (varying between 31 and 120 mg–NH 4 –N L −1 ) and the presence of biodegradable organic carbon (soluble COD (sCOD) between 7 and 230 mg-O 2 L −1 ). Two reactors were operated with different aeration strategies (intermittent vs. continuous), the other two with differences in biomass retention (recirculation or removal of detached biomass). Keeping a constant HRT caused instabilities due to difficulties with setting the optimal oxygen flux for the respective surface loadings (1.6–6 g–NH 4 –N m −2 d −1 ). Operating the MABRs with a constant surface loading (2 g–NH 4 –N m −2 d −1 ) resulted in higher and more stable total nitrogen (TN) removal independent of the aeration strategy. The intermittently aerated MABR improved from an average TN removal of 23%–69%, the continuously aerated MABR from 20% to 50% TN removal. Independent of the feeding strategy, the continuously aerated reactor removed slightly more ammonium (80–95%) compared to the intermittently aerated reactor (74–93%). Limiting the oxygen supply by intermittent aeration proofed successful to favor partial nitritation and anammox. Continuous aeration did not achieve stable suppression of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Of the removed ammonium, approx. 26% were left in the effluent as nitrate (only 10% with intermittent aeration). Recirculation of the detached biomass resulted in reattachment onto the biofilm or membrane surface. This recirculation led to significantly higher biomass retention times and thus to better performance. Removing detached biofilm from the reactor caused a slightly lower TN removal of 33% compared to 45% with reattachment, while average ammonium removal was 58% compared to 63%, respectively. Scouring events had a significant impact on the overall operation, resulting in short term losses of TN removal capacities of 50–100%. The microbial community composition was different depending on the aeration strategy and biomass retention. The continuously aerated reactor contained significantly more AOB than the intermittently aerated MABR. The reactor with biomass retention contained less ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB), compared to the reactor with low biomass retention. In all MABRs, anammox bacteria established in the biofilm after an initial drop in abundance.

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“…Anammox bacteria naturally form aggregates (i.e., biofilm) whereas both AOB and NOB tend to form smaller aggregates (i.e., flocs) with less diffusion limitation (Corbala´-Robles et al, 2016;Vlaeminck et al, 2010;Volcke et al, 2010;Winkler et al, 2012b). The coexistence of biofilm and flocs has been shown to improve reactor performance and NOB suppression at temperatures .25 8C when treating pretreated mainstream wastewater (Malovanyy et al, 2015a).…”

Section: Research Status Of Mainstream Nitritation-anammoxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Status, Challenges, and Perspectives of Mainstream Nitritation–Anammox for Wastewater Treatment

Klaus

Bott

et al. 2018

Water Environment Research

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The nitritation-anammox process is an efficient and cost-effective approach for biological nitrogen removal, but its application in treating mainstream wastewater remains a great challenge. Mainstream nitritation-anammox processes could create opportunities for achieving energy self-sufficient, or energy-generating water resource recovery facilities. Significant advancements have been achieved via pilot- and full-scale trials to overcome the major obstacles under mainstream conditions, such as repression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, limiting the overgrowth of denitrifiers, and effective selection and retention of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and anammox bacteria. This review paper intends to provide a detailed update of research progress on mainstream nitritation-anammox processes, discuss metabolic interactions, and examine major challenges and possible solutions towards the future development.

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Analysing the effects of the aeration pattern and residual ammonium concentration in a partial nitritation-anammox process

Cited by 55 publications

References 35 publications

Mainstream partial nitritation and anammox: long-term process stability and effluent quality at low temperatures

Mainstream partial nitritation and anammox: long-term process stability and effluent quality at low temperatures

Membrane aerated biofilm reactors for mainstream partial nitritation/anammox: Experiences using real municipal wastewater

Status, Challenges, and Perspectives of Mainstream Nitritation–Anammox for Wastewater Treatment

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