Haydée De Clippeleir

Floc-based sequential partial nitritation and anammox at full scale with contrasting N2O emissions

New Activated Sludge (NAS(®)) is a hybrid, floc-based nitrogen removal process without carbon addition, based on the control of sludge retention times (SRT) and dissolved oxygen (DO) levels. The aim of this study was to examine the performance of a retrofitted four-stage NAS(®) plant, including on-line measurements of greenhouse gas emissions (N(2)O and CH(4)). The plant treated anaerobically digested industrial wastewater, containing 264 mg N L(-1), 1154 mg chemical oxygen demand (COD) L(-1) and an inorganic carbon alkalinity of 34 meq L(-1). The batch-fed partial nitritation step received an overall nitrogen loading rate of 0.18-0.22 kg N m(-3) d(-1), thereby oxidized nitrogen to nitrite (45-47%) and some nitrate (13-15%), but also to N(2)O (5.1-6.6%). This was achieved at a SRT of 1.7 d and DO around 1.0 mg O(2) L(-1). Subsequently, anammox, denitrification and nitrification compartments were followed by a final settler, at an overall SRT of 46 d. None of the latter three reactors emitted N(2)O. In the anammox step, 0.26 kg N m(-3) d(-1) was removed, with an estimated contribution of 71% by the genus Kuenenia, which constituted 3.1% of the biomass. Overall, a nitrogen removal efficiency of 95% was obtained, yielding a dischargeable effluent. Retrofitting floc-based nitrification/denitrification with carbon addition to NAS(®) allowed to save 40% of the operational wastewater treatment costs. Yet, a decrease of the N(2)O emissions by about 50% is necessary in order to obtain a CO(2) neutral footprint. The impact of emitted CH(4) was 20 times lower.

One-stage partial nitritation/anammox at 15 °C on pretreated sewage: feasibility demonstration at lab-scale.

Energy-positive sewage treatment can be achieved by implementation of oxygen-limited autotrophic nitrification/denitrification (OLAND) in the main water line, as the latter does not require organic carbon and therefore allows maximum energy recovery through anaerobic digestion of organics. To test the feasibility of mainstream OLAND, the effect of a gradual temperature decrease from 29 to 15xa0°C and a chemical oxygen demand (COD)/N increase from 0 to 2 was tested in an OLAND rotating biological contactor operating at 55–60xa0mg NH4+–Nu2009L−1 and a hydraulic retention time of 1xa0h. Moreover, the effect of the operational conditions and feeding strategies on the reactor cycle balances, including NO and N2O emissions were studied in detail. This study showed for the first time that total nitrogen removal rates of 0.5xa0g Nu2009L−1u2009day−1 can be maintained when decreasing the temperature from 29 to 15xa0°C and when low nitrogen concentration and moderate COD levels are treated. Nitrite accumulation together with elevated NO and N2O emissions (5xa0% of N load) were needed to favor anammox compared with nitratation at low free ammonia (<0.25xa0mg Nu2009L−1), low free nitrous acid (<0.9xa0μg Nu2009L−1), and higher DO levels (3–4xa0mg O2u2009L−1). Although the total nitrogen removal rates showed potential, the accumulation of nitrite and nitrate resulted in lower nitrogen removal efficiencies (around 40xa0%), which should be improved in the future. Moreover, a balance should be found in the future between the increased NO and N2O emissions and a decreased energy consumption to justify OLAND mainstream treatment.

OLAND is feasible to treat sewage-like nitrogen concentrations at low hydraulic residence times

Energy-positive sewage treatment can, in principle, be obtained by maximizing energy recovery from concentrated organics and by minimizing energy consumption for concentration and residual nitrogen removal in the main stream. To test the feasibility of the latter, sewage-like nitrogen influent concentrations were treated with oxygen-limited autotrophic nitrification/denitrification (OLAND) in a lab-scale rotating biological contactor at 25°C. At influent ammonium concentrations of 66 and 29xa0mg Nxa0L−1 and a volumetric loading rate of 840xa0mgxa0Nxa0L−1u2009day−1 yielding hydraulic residence times (HRT) of 2.0 and 1.0xa0h, respectively, relatively high nitrogen removal rates of 444 and 383xa0mg Nxa0L−1xa0day−1 were obtained, respectively. At low nitrogen levels, adapted nitritation and anammox communities were established. The decrease in nitrogen removal was due to decreased anammox and increased nitratation, with Nitrospira representing 6% of the biofilm. The latter likely occurred given the absence of dissolved oxygen (DO) control, since decreasing the DO concentration from 1.4 to 1.2xa0mg O2xa0L−1 decreased nitratation by 35% and increased anammox by 32%. Provided a sufficient suppression of nitratation, this study showed the feasibility of OLAND to treat low nitrogen levels at low HRT, a prerequisite to energy-positive sewage treatment.

Long-chain acylhomoserine lactones increase the anoxic ammonium oxidation rate in an OLAND biofilm.

The oxygen-limited autotrophic nitrification/denitrification (OLAND) process comprises one-stage partial nitritation and anammox, catalyzed by aerobic and anoxic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AerAOB and AnAOB), respectively. The goal of this study was to investigate whether quorum sensing influences anoxic ammonium oxidation in an OLAND biofilm, with AnAOB colonizing 13% of the biofilm, as determined with fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). At high biomass concentrations, the specific anoxic ammonium oxidation rate of the OLAND biofilm significantly increased with a factor of 1.5u2009±u20090.2 compared to low biomass concentrations. Supernatant obtained from the biofilm showed no ammonium-oxidizing activity on itself, but its addition to low OLAND biomass concentrations resulted in a significant activity increase of the biomass. In the biofilm supernatant, the presence of long-chain acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) was shown using the reporter strain Chromobacterium violaceum CV026, and one specific AHL, N-dodecanoyl homoserine lactone (C12-HSL), was identified via LC-MS/MS. Furthermore, C12-HSL was detected in an AnAOB-enriched community, but not in an AerAOB-enriched community. Addition of C12-HSL to low OLAND biomass concentrations resulted in a significantly higher ammonium oxidation rate (pu2009<u20090.05). To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating that AHLs enhance the anoxic ammonium oxidation process. Future work should confirm which species are responsible for the in situ production of C12-HSL in AnAOB-based applications.

A low volumetric exchange ratio allows high autotrophic nitrogen removal in a sequencing batch reactor

Sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) have several advantages, such as a lower footprint and a higher flexibility, compared to biofilm based reactors, such as rotating biological contactors. However, the critical parameters for a fast start-up of the nitrogen removal by oxygen-limited autotrophic nitrification/denitrification (OLAND) in a SBR are not available. In this study, a low critical minimum settling velocity (0.7 m h(-1)) and a low volumetric exchange ratio (25%) were found to be essential to ensure a fast start-up, in contrast to a high critical minimum settling velocity (2 m h(-1)) and a high volumetric exchange ratio (40%) which yielded no successful start-up. To prevent nitrite accumulation, two effective actions were found to restore the microbial activity balance between aerobic and anoxic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AerAOB and AnAOB). A daily biomass washout at a critical minimum settling velocity of 5 m h(-1) removed small aggregates rich in AerAOB activity, and the inclusion of an anoxic phase enhanced the AnAOB to convert the excess nitrite. This study showed that stable physicochemical conditions were needed to obtain a competitive nitrogen removal rate of 1.1 g N L(-1) d(-1).

Successful hydraulic strategies to start up OLAND sequencing batch reactors at lab scale

Oxygen‐limited autotrophic nitrification/denitrification (OLAND) is a one‐stage combination of partial nitritation and anammox, which can have a challenging process start‐up. In this study, start‐up strategies were tested for sequencing batch reactors (SBR), varying hydraulic parameters, i.e. volumetric exchange ratio (VER) and feeding regime, and salinity. Two sequential tests with two parallel SBR were performed, and stable removal rates >u20030.4u2003gu2003Nu2003l−1u2003day−1 with minimal nitrite and nitrate accumulation were considered a successful start‐up. SBR A and B were operated at 50% VER with 3u2003gu2003NaClu2003l−1 in the influent, and the influent was fed over 8% and 82% of the cycle time respectively. SBR B started up in 24 days, but SBR A achieved no start‐up in 39 days. SBR C and D were fed over 65% of the cycle time at 25% VER, and salt was added only to the influent of SBR D (5u2003gu2003NaClu2003l−1). Start‐up of both SBR C and D was successful in 9 and 32 days respectively. Reactor D developed a higher proportion of small aggregates (0.10–0.25u2003mm), with a high nitritation to anammox rate ratio, likely the cause of the observed nitrite accumulation. The latter was overcome by temporarily including an anoxic period at the end of the reaction phase. All systems achieved granulation and similar biomass‐specific nitrogen removal rates (141–220u2003mgu2003Nu2003g−1u2003VSSu2003day−1). FISH revealed a close juxtapositioning of aerobic and anoxic ammonium‐oxidizing bacteria (AerAOB and AnAOB), also in small aggregates. DGGE showed that AerAOB communities had a lower evenness than Planctomycetes communities. A higher richness of the latter seemed to be correlated with better reactor performance. Overall, the fast start‐up of SBR B, C and D suggests that stable hydraulic conditions are beneficial for OLAND while increased salinity at the tested levels is not needed for good reactor performance.