Nitrification of low concentration ammonia nitrogen using zeolite biological aerated filter (ZBAF)

Abstract

This study focuses on nitrification through a biological aerated filter (BAF) that is filled with a zeolite medium at low concentrations of ammonia. The zeolite medium consists of natural zeolite powder. The BAF is operated under two types of media, which are a ball-type zeolite medium and expanded poly propylene (EPP) medium. Nitrification occurred in the zeolite BAF (ZBAF) when the influent concentration of ammonia nitrogen was 3 mg L-1, but the BAF that was filled with an EPP medium did not experience nitrification. The ammonia nitrogen removal efficiency of ZBAF was 63.38% and the average nitrate nitrogen concentration was 1.746 mg/L. The ZBAF was tested again after a comparison experiment to treat pond water, and municipal wastewater mixed pond water. The ZBAF showed remarkable ammonia-nitrogen treatment at low concentration and low temperature. During this period, the average ammonia nitrogen removal efficiency was 64.56%. Especially, when water temperature decreased to 4.7℃, ammonia nitrogen removal efficiency remained 79%. On the other hand, the chemical-oxygen demand (COD) and phosphorus-removal trends were different. The COD and phosphorus did not show as efficient treatment as the ammonia-nitrogen treatment.

The Potential Application of Natural Clinoptilolite-Rich Zeolite as Support for Bacterial Community Formation for Wastewater Treatment

“…The zeolites showed significant differences in nitrification efficiency based on nitrate and nitrite efficiency (presented in Figure 4 ). According to Kim et al [ 52 ], the zeolite did not need an adaptation period for nitrification and the process can be observed without considering the concentration of ammonia from wastewater. Additionally, the zeolite is regenerated by nitrifiers, and the nitrite and nitrate are desorbed from the zeolite.…”

Nitrogen removal performance and bacterial communities in zeolite trickling filter under different influent C/N ratios

“…Compared with ordinary filter media, zeolite has greater application potential in the removal of ammonia nitrogen in wastewater. At present, many studies have found that zeolite has a good ammonia nitrogen removal performance, and there are different types reactors used zeolite as substrates or filters (Cheng et al 2018;Liu et al 2019;Kim et al 2019;Wang et al 2020c;Du et al 2020). Compared with other reactors, zeolite was more suitable as substrate for constructed wetlands and trickling filters.…”

“…Relevant studies have found that when zeolite is used as the substrate of constructed wetlands and trickling filters, it has a high ammonia nitrogen removal effect and can simultaneously improve the total nitrogen removal effect. When zeolite is used as the filler of sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) and biological aerated filter (BAF), their ammonia nitrogen removal effects are much lower than those of constructed wetlands and trickling filters (Zhou et al 2017;Chen et al 2019;Kim et al 2019;Wang et al 2020c). Additionally, the mixture of zeolite and other substrates can make up for the deficiency of single substrate and improve the purification efficiency and stability of the purification process.…”

Treatment of Low C/N Ratio Wastewater by a Carbon Cloth Bipolar Plate Multicompartment Electroenhanced Bioreactor (CBM-EEB)

“…The water samples were collected from the CBM-EEB reactors every 24 h. Before sampling, the aeration device was stopped and kept at rest for 2 h. Then, a quantitative filter paper was used to remove the impurities from the samples. The standard test protocols of ammonia nitrogen, nitrate, COD, pH, dissolved oxygen, and other experimental index are described in previous studies. − The results of concentrations of COD, ammonia nitrogen, and NO x – of the influent and effluent water were used to represent the pollution level and treatment efficiency of the CBM-EEB system. The measurement of the water index of the experimental groups was conducted in duplicate, while the measurement of that of the control group was conducted every 7 days.…”