Reclamation of Municipal Wastewater using a Novel Liquid-solid Circulating Fluidized Bed Bioreactor

Abstract

A pilot scale liquid-solid circulating fluidized bed bioreactor was established at the Adelaide Pollution Control Plant, London, Canada, to study the feasibility of this novel technology for municipal wastewater treatment using 600 μm lava rock particles as a carrier media, with emphasis on biological nutrient removal. The LSCFB generated effluent characterized by this system was characterized by <1.0 mg NH 4 -N/L, <5.0 mg NO 3 -N/L, <1.0 mg PO 4 -P/L, <10 mg TN/L, <10 mg SBOD/L, and 10-15 mg VSS/L, which can meet secondary effluent quality without using any chemical for phosphorus removal and conventional secondary clarification for removing suspended solids. This system can easily regenerate MWW at an organic, nitrogen, and phosphorus loading rates of 4.12 kg COD/(m 3 ·d), 0.35 kg N/(m 3 ·d), and 0.051 kg P/(m 3 ·d) respectively. The observed yields were 0.12-0.16 g VSS/g COD consumed in the LSCFBs during nutrient removal from MWW. Ultraviolet disinfection test shows that the LSCFB with a filtration unit can easily meet the California Standard (<2.2 TC/100 mL) and reclaim municipal wastewater.