Investigation of Laboratory-Scale and Pilot-Scale Attached Growth Ammonia Removal Kinetics at Cold Temperature and Low Influent Carbon

Abstract

A mobile testing center was installed at a lagoon wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) at Terrebonne, Canada to investigate the rate of ammonia removal of attached growth treatment systems at 4°C and at low influent carbon concentrations. The testing center housed two laboratory-scale reactors, a pilot-scale BioStyr system (Veolia Water) and a pilot-scale moving bed bioreactor (MBBR) system (Veolia Water). Although the rates of laboratory-scale and the pilot-scale systems demonstrated that the exposure time to low temperature has a significant effect on the kinetics of the system, the ammonia removal rates of all the systems were shown to be significant at 4°C. A strong correlation was demonstrated between the rates of ammonia removal produced by the laboratory-scale reactors, the pilot BioStyr system and pilot MBBR system; thus verifying the scaleup capability of the laboratory-scale reactors and demonstrating that nitrifiers can achieve ammonia removal under cold temperature conditions for elapsed periods of time independent of the reactor design. Finally, the ammonia removal rates of the laboratory-scale systems, the BioStyr pilot system, and the MBBR pilot system were all accurately predicted by a recently proposed Theta model.

An Investigation of Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor Nitrification during Long‐Term Exposure to Cold Temperatures

“…The effluent ammonia concentrations in this study were measured as total ammonia, in which the portion of free-phase ammonia as compared to federal regulations would be extremely small at a pH of 7 to 8 (pH range throughout the entire experimental phase). Although the removal rate at 1 °C in this study could not be directly compared to past studies because of a lack of rates of nitrification at 1 °C in the current literature, nitrification rates measured at 4 °C are in accordance with those found in this study (Delatolla et aL, 2011 The discrepancy between the ammonia removal rates of Rl and R2 observed in Figure 2 is not statistically significant and is most likely caused by natural variances inherent to the systems and the analytical methods. However, it should be noted that the mass of biofilm per carrier in both reactors was recorded throughout the study and that Rl demonstrated a slightly larger mass of biofilm per carrier than R2 at 20 and 1 °C.…”

“…Numerous studies and practical experience have identified the effect of low temperatures on nitrifying bacteria as the cause for loss of nitrification (Sharma and Ahlert, 1977;Painter and Loveless, 1983;Salvetti et al, 2006;Zhu and Chen, 2002). Attached growth processes and, specifically, the moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) have shown promise in achieving short-term ammonia removal at cold temperatures below 4 8C (Andreottola et al, 2000;Delatolla et al, 2011;Wessman and Johnson, 2006).…”

Treatment of septic tank effluent using moving-bed biological reactor: kinetic and biofilm morphology

“…These removal rates indicate that the MBBRs were successful in reducing the concentration of ammonia from septic tank effluent. Houweling et al (2007) and Delatolla et al (2010) showed nitrogen removal rates in the range 0.15-0.28 kg N/m 3 day at temperatures of 4-7°C.…”

“…K3 biocarriers were selected in this study as they provide a large protected surface area for the biofilm growth and optimal conditions for biological activity when suspended in water (Delatolla et al 2010;Almomani et al 2014). The plastic biocarriers occupied 30 % of the volume of the reactor, allowing for free movement within the reactor aided by the air bubbles created by the diffusors.…”

“…However, the cost associated with all the previous technologies, in addition to complications in treatment, reduces the chance of them being applied. The associated growth processes, on the other hand, and specifically the MBBR, have demonstrated good performance in achieving short-term ammonia removal under various operational conditions (Delatolla et al 2010;Blackburne et al 2007) and temperatures (3-20°C; Almomani et al 2014;Ødegaard et al 1994;Rusten et al 1994;Houweling et al 2007). MBBR systems are continual flow processes that are easy to control and operate.…”