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Nitrogen Removal from Water Resource Recovery Facility Secondary Effluent Using a Bioreactor
Author(s) -
Cao Wenping
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143016x14504669767652
Subject(s) - effluent , bioreactor , resource recovery , environmental science , waste management , nitrogen , environmental engineering , pulp and paper industry , chemistry , wastewater , engineering , organic chemistry
Solid‐phase denitrification technology can potentially be used to remove nitrogen compounds, such as total nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen (‐N), from wastewater. In this study, the authors made use of an internal‐circulation baffled biofilm reactor in which filamentous bamboo acted as a biocarrier for the removal of nitrogen (N) from water resource recovery facility (WRRF) secondary effluent. A laboratory‐scale experiment was conducted to assess the efficacy and mechanisms of N removal from the WRRF secondary effluent operated in continuous‐flow mode. Results indicated that total nitrogen and ‐N removal rates reached 66.58 to 75.23% and 75.6 to 85.6%, respectively. Infrared spectrum analysis indicated biodegradation in the filamentous bamboo. A comparison of this method with the use of filamentous plastics as biocarriers indicated that higher ‐N removal (as volumetric loading) and lower nitrite nitrogen accumulation rates were obtained when filamentous bamboo was used as a biocarrier. A ‐N removal volumetric loading of 2.09 mg/L·h was reached when using bamboo as a single solid carbon source. These results confirm that filamentous bamboo can be used as an alternative to inert biocarriers in WRRF secondary effluent treatment systems.