Performance of a high-rate membrane bioreactor for energy-efficient treatment of textile wastewater.

High-rate membrane bioreactors (MBR), where the wastewater undergoes partial oxidation due to the applied short sludge retention time (SRT) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) values, retain the majority of the organic substances in the sludge through growth and biological flocculation. Thus, a raw material source with a high biomethane production potential is created for the widespread use of circular economy or energy-neutral plants in wastewater treatment. While high-rate MBRs have been successfully employed for energy-efficient treatment of domestic wastewater, there is a lack of research specifically focused on textile wastewater. This study aimed to investigate the textile wastewater treatment and organic matter recovery performances of an aerobic MBR system containing a hollow fiber ultrafiltration membrane with a 0.04 µm pore diameter. The system was initially operated at short SRTs (5 and 3 d) and different SRT/HRT ratios (5, 10, and 20) and subsequently at high-rate conditions (SRT of 0.5-2 d and HRT of 1.2-9.6 h) which are believed to be the most limiting conditions tested for treatment of real textile wastewater. The results showed that chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal averaged 77% even at SRT of 0.5 d and HRT of 1.2 h. Slowly biodegradable substrates and soluble microbial products (SMP) accumulated within the MBR at SRT of 0.5 and 1 d, which resulted in decreased sludge filterability. The observed sludge yield (Yobs) exhibited a considerable increase when SRT was reduced from 5 to 1 d. On the other hand, the SRT/HRT ratio displayed a decisive effect on the energy requirement for aeration.

Operational strategies enhancing sewage sludge minimization in a combined integrated fixed-film activated sludge - oxic settling anaerobic system.

A lab-scale integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) reactor was mplemented with the oxic-settling anaerobic (OSA) cycle for reducing sewage sludge production through the addition of an anoxic/anaerobic sludge holding tank (SHT) along the sludge recycle line. The IFAS-OSA system was operated under the different hydraulic retention time (HRT) in the SHT (HRTSHT) of 12 h and 6 h, at an oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) < -91 mV and solid retention time (SRT) between 39 and 126 d. Furthermore, the effect of temperature increase in the SHT (TSHT) from ambient (19.8-25.6 °C) to mesophilic (35 °C) conditions was investigated. The system performances were monitored in terms of sludge minimization and dewaterability efficiencies as well as carbon and nutrients reduction. The observed sludge yield (Yobs) for the IFAS system was 0.37(±0.06) mg VSS/mg COD. After OSA implementation Yobs decreased by 32% and 46-65% at HRTSHT of 12 h and 6 h, respectively, indicating that prolonged exposure to anoxic/anaerobic conditions was not beneficial for sludge reduction. The lowest Yobs of 0.09(±0.05) mg VSS/mg COD (76% lower than that in the IFAS system) was obtained at an HRTSHT of 6 h and when TSHT was set at 35 °C. OSA implementation did not affect COD and NH4+ oxidation of the IFAS system (90-96% and 99%, respectively) and improved total nitrogen (TN) reduction (31-53%) due to improved denitrification in the SHT. On the contrary, sludge dewaterability worsened following OSA implementation, which was linked to the increased levels of exopolymeric substances in the suspended biomass.

Removal of arsenic from acidic liquors using chemical and autotrophic and mixed heterotrophic bacteria-produced biogenic schwertmannites.

Arsenic penetrates human society through a variety of geological and anthropogenic processes, posing significant health hazards. Acid mine drainage, which contains high concentrations of heavy metals and sulfate, is formed by the biological oxidation of pyrite and other metal-containing sulfidic minerals and is a significant environmental hazard. Adsorption is a simple and effective method for removing arsenic from water. In this study, co-precipitation and adsorption of arsenic with biogenic and chemically produced iron-containing settleable precipitates, i.e. schwertmannites were studied. Autotrophic Leptospirillum ferrooxidans and heterotrophic mixed culture of Alicyclobacillus tolerans and Acidiphilium cryptum oxidized iron at rates from 18 to 23 mg/(L.h) in the presence of 5 and 10 mg/L As3+, and both cultures tolerated up to 100 mg As3+/L although Fe2+ oxidation rates decreased to 3-4 mg/(L.h). At Fe/As ratios of ≥20, As removal efficiencies of ≥95% were obtained by co-precipitation with Fe3+ at pH 3.5-4.5. Because schwertmannite precipitates produced by the heterotrophic culture formed crystals, it was studied for adsorptive removals of As3+ and As5+ and compared with chemically synthesized schwertmannites. As3+ (100 mg/L) adsorption onto biogenic and chemical schwertmannite were 25 and 44%, respectively, at pH 4. At 100 mg As5+/L, adsorption capacity and efficiency onto biogenic schwertmannite were 47 mg/g and 50%, respectively. At 300 mg As5+/L, adsorption capacity and efficiency onto chemical schwertmannite were 169 mg/g and 56%, respectively. In summary, biogenic schwertmannite has potential for As removal via co-precipitation with Fe3+ at pH 3.5-4.5 and Fe/As ratios of ≥20 due to low production cost from acidic mine drainage. In contrast to the schwertmannite generation methods, which are usually performed with autotrophic acidophilic bacteria in the literature, this efficient and modular schwertmannite production process and its evaluation on arsenic adsorption is an important potential in acidic mine drainage treatment containing arsenic.

Performance of sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification process for nitrate removal from permeate of an MBR treating textile wastewater and concentrate of a real scale reverse osmosis process.

Textile is one of the industrial sectors generating the highest amount of wastewater with various polluting substances. Lately, water reuse in textile industries, especially, with the reverse osmosis (RO) process following membrane bioreactor (MBR) treatment has been applied more commonly. In this study, an autotrophic sulfur-based denitrifying column performance was evaluated, for the first time, for nitrate reduction from permeate of a lab-scale MBR receiving real textile wastewater and from the concentrate stream of a real scale-RO plant used for recovering water from textile wastewater. Nitrate concentration in the MBR effluent and RO concentrate averaged 35 ± 3 and 12 ± 2 mg-N/L, respectively. With the sulfur-based column bioreactor, quite high (≥90%) denitrification performances were attained both for MBR effluent and RO concentrate up to nitrate loadings of 0.432 and 0.12 g-N/(L.d), respectively. COD present in wastewater was not utilized in the column bioreactor, which illustrates no or minimal contribution of heterotrophic denitrification. Alkalinity concentration in the wastewater was enough to buffer the acid formation during autotrophic denitrification. Sulfate was generated accompanied by nitrate reduction and sulfide was formed at low nitrate loadings. In the batch tests, the denitrification rates for the MBR effluent and RO concentrate were 0.31 and 0.28 g-N/(g-VSS.d), respectively, which were relatively higher than the ones observed for the synthetic nitrate-contaminated groundwater. Autotrophic sulfur-based denitrification is a promising and robust process alternative even for textile RO concentrate with high concentrations of salinity, non-biodegradable COD, and color.

Impact of temperature and biomass augmentation on biosulfur-driven autotrophic denitrification in membrane bioreactors treating real nitrate-contaminated groundwater.

Nitrate (NO3-) contamination of groundwater is a major health concern worldwide as it can lead to serious illnesses such as methemoglobinemia and cancer. Autotrophic denitrification is a smart approach for treating groundwater, being typically organic-deficient. Lately, biogenic sulfur (S0bio) has emerged as a sustainable, free, and high-efficiency substrate to fuel membrane bioreactors (MBRs) treating contaminated groundwater. However, the effects of moderate temperature and biomass concentration on the performance and fouling of the S0bio-fed MBR were not investigated previously. This study shows that biomass levels of ~1 g MLVSS/L limit membrane fouling but also denitrification efficiency. Biomass augmentation up to 3 g MLVSS/L enhanced denitrification but worsened fouling due to increase of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) levels in the bulk liquid. Temperature decrease from 30 °C to 20 °C halved denitrification efficiency, which could be partially recovered through bioaugmentation. The mechanisms affected by temperature decrease, practical applications, and future research needs were discussed.

Sequential sulfur-based denitrification/denitritation and nanofiltration processes for drinking water treatment.

Efficient and cost-effective solutions for nitrogen removal are necessary to ensure the availability of safe drinking water. This study proposes a combined treatment for nitrogen-contaminated groundwater by sequential autotrophic nitrogen removal in a sulfur-packed bed reactor (SPBR) and excess sulfate rejection via nanofiltration (NF). Autotrophic nitrogen removal in the SPBR was investigated under both denitrification and denitritation conditions under different NO3- and NO2- loading rates (LRs) and feeding strategies (NO3- only, NO2- only, or both NO3- and NO2- in the feed). Batch activity tests were carried out during SPBR operation to evaluate the effect of different feeding conditions on nitrogen removal activity by the SPBR biofilm. Bacteria responsible for nitrogen removal in the bioreactor were identified via Illumina sequencing. Dead-end filtration tests were performed with NF membranes to investigate the elimination of excess sulfate from the SPBR effluent. This study demonstrates that the combined process results in effective groundwater treatment and evidences that an adequately high nitrogen LR should be maintained to avoid the generation of excess sulfide.

Simulated acid mine drainage treatment in iron oxidizing ceramic membrane bioreactor with subsequent co-precipitation of iron and arsenic.

Acid mine drainage (AMD), generated in the active and abandoned mine sites, is characterized by low pH and high metal concentrations. One AMD treatment possibility is biologically oxidizing Fe2+ followed by precipitation through pH control. As compared to autotrophic iron oxidizing microbial community, a microbial community enriched in the presence of organic nutrients was hypothesized to yield higher biomass during commissioning the bioreactor. In this study, the treatment of Fe, Cu, Co, Mn, Zn, Ni, and As containing simulated AMD was studied using an iron-oxidizing ceramic membrane bioreactor (CMBR) at varying hydraulic retention times (HRTs) (6-24 h) and two different feed Fe2+ concentrations (250 and 750 mg/L). The impact of tryptone soya broth (TSB) on the CMBR performance was also investigated. Almost complete Fe2+ oxidation and sustainable flux at around 5.0 L/(m2.h) were obtained in the CMBR with the Alicyclobacillus tolerans and Acidiphilium cryptum dominated enrichment culture. The Fe2+ oxidation rate, as assessed in batch operation cycles of CMBR, increased significantly with increasing Fe2+ loading to the bioreactor. The iron oxidation rate decreased by the elimination of organic matter from the feed. The increase of the CMBR permeate pH to 3.5-4.0 resulted in selective co-precipitation of As and Fe (over 99%) with the generation of biogenic schwertmannite.

Self-forming dynamic membrane bioreactor for textile industry wastewater treatment.

The robustness of anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor (AnDMBR) for synthetic textile wastewater treatment was investigated. Textile wastewater may contain high concentrations of NaCl and sulfate, hence their impact on the AnDMBR performance was investigated in detail. A dynamic membrane was formed on a 20-µm pore sized nylon support layer at a constant flux of around 8 LMH. In the absence of sulfate addition, total and filtered (soluble) COD averaged 96 ± 49 mg/L (91% removal) and 75 ± 35 mg/L (93% removal), respectively. Sulfate addition increased total COD in the permeate to 222 ± 68 mg/L (79% removal). Average SS concentration was lower than 30 mg/L in the permeate although its concentration in the bioreactor reached 10 g/L. Throughout the AnDMBR operation dye removal averaged >97%. Sludge filterability, which was assessed by specific resistance to filtration, supernatant filtration, capillary suction time and viscosity, decreased after sulfate addition. Organic and inorganic matters in the dynamic layer were characterized by SEM-EDS and FTIR analyses.

Fluidized bed membrane bioreactor achieves high sulfate reduction and filtration performances at moderate temperatures.

The study explored the potential of an up-flow sulfate reducing fluidized-bed membrane bioreactor (SR-FMBR) for biogenic sulfide generation at room temperature together with evaluation of filtration and fouling characteristics developed under various operational conditions. The SR-FMBR was tested at different COD/sulfate (mg/mg) ratios for a total of 127 days, initially at 35 °C and then at 23 °C. SR-FMBR was able to achieve COD oxidation and sulfate reduction efficiencies up to 98%, and allowed for biogenic sulfide generation up to 600 mg/L (97% of theoretical value) at room temperature. Alkalinity was generated as a result of sulfate reduction and averaged around 1900 mgCaCO3/L in the permeate. Hence, starting the bioreactor operation at 35 °C and then decreasing it to 23 °C did not adversely affect the process performance. High filtration fluxes up to 9.3 L/m2/h (LMH) could be maintained at employed hydraulic retention times between 24 h and 6 h. Observing relatively high filtration performance was due to keeping a high fraction of biomass attached to the carrier material, which decreased the cake formation potential on the membrane surface compared to conventional MBR operation. The SR-FMBR performance may further be tested for heavy metal removal under sulfidogenic conditions for acid mine drainage treatment.

Comparison of biogenic and chemical sulfur as electron donors for autotrophic denitrification in sulfur-fed membrane bioreactor (SMBR).

Two sulfur-oxidizing membrane bioreactors (SMBRs) performing autotrophic denitrification at different HRTs (6-26 h), one supplemented with biogenic elemental sulfur (S0bio) and the other with chemically-synthesized elemental sulfur (S0chem), were compared in terms of nitrate reduction rates, impact on membrane filtration and microbial community composition. Complete denitrification with higher rates (up to 286 mg N-NO3-/L d) was observed in the SMBR supplemented with S0bio (SMBRbio), while nitrate was never completely reduced in the SMBR fed with S0chem (SMBRchem). Trans membrane pressure was higher for SMBRbio due to smaller particle size and colloidal properties of S0bio. Microbial communities in the two SMBRs were similar and dominated by Proteobacteria, with Pleomorphomonas and Thermomonas being the most abundant genera in both bioreactors. This study reveals that S0bio can be effectively used for nitrate removal in autotrophic denitrifying MBRs and results in higher nitrate reduction rates compared to S0chem.

Performance of a pilot-scale reverse osmosis process for water recovery from biologically-treated textile wastewater.

Textile industry generates a high volume of wastewater containing various type of pollutants. Although high color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removals are achieved with the combination of biological and chemical treatment processes, reverse osmosis (RO) process is generally needed for water recovery due to high conductivity of the textile wastewater. In this study, a pilot scale RO process containing one spiral wound membrane element was operated under three different operational modes, i.e. concentrated, complete recycle and continuous, to collect more information for the prediction of a real-scale RO process performance. It was claimed that complete recycle mode of operation enabled mimicking the operational conditions exerted on the first membrane, whereas continuous mode of operation created conditions very similar to the ones exerted on the last membrane element in a real scale RO process train. In the concentrated and continuous mode of operation, water recovery and flux were around 70% and 19 L/m2/h (LMH). Permeate produced in the RO process can be safely reused in the dyeing process as the feed and permeate conductivities were around 5500 µS/cm and 150 µS/cm, respectively, at 70% water recovery. However, color concentration in the concentrate exceeded the discharge limits and would need further treatment. The RO performance was accurately predicted by ROSA simulations.

Fluidized bed bioreactor for multiple environmental engineering solutions.

Fluidized bed bioreactors (FBR) are characterized by two-phase mixture of fluid and solid, in which the bed of solid particles is fluidized by means of downward or upward recirculation stream. FBRs are widely used for multiple environmental engineering solutions, such as wastewater treatment, as well as some industrial applications. FBR offers many benefits such as compact bioreactor size due to short hydraulic retention time, long biomass retention on the carrier, high conversion rates due to fully mixed conditions and consequently high mass transfer rates, no channelling of flow, dilution of influent concentrations due to recycle flow, suitability for enrichment of microbes with low Km values. The disadvantages of FBRs include bioreactor size limitations due to the height-to-diameter ratio, high-energy requirements due to high recycle ratios, and long start-up period for biofilm formation. This paper critically reviews some of the key studies on biomass enrichment via immobilisation of low growth yield microorganisms, high-rates via fully mixed conditions, technical developments in FBRs and ways of overcoming toxic effects via solution recycling. This technology has many potential new uses as well as hydrodynamic characteristics, which enable high-rate environmental engineering and industrial applications.

Concentrate minimization and water recovery enhancement using pellet precipitator in a reverse osmosis process treating textile wastewater.

Industrial wastewater reuse together with zero or near zero liquid discharges have been a growing trend due to the requirement of sustainable water management mandated by water scarcity and tightening discharge regulations. Studies have been conducted on the reclamation of textile industry wastewater using RO processes. However a lot of scientific attention has been drawn upon limiting the amount of concentrate generated from RO processes, which depends on the concentrations of scale forming ions in the concentrate stream. Hence, this study aims at investigating the applicability of an ultra-filtration (UF) membrane integrated pellet reactor to remove scale forming ions, i.e. Ca2+, Mg2+ and Si from the concentrate of a pilot-scale textile industry RO process, for the first time in the literature. The resulting effluent was further tested in a secondary RO process to decrease concentrate volume and increase total water recovery. The pellet reactor operated at an extremely low hydraulic retention time of 0.1 h removed scale forming ions, i.e. Ca2+, Mg2+, with 90-95% efficiency, which improved the secondary RO process performance up to 92-94% overall water recovery, i.e. near zero liquid discharge was reached. Ozonation of the concentrate partially removed COD and color, which further improved the secondary RO filtration performance.

Performance of polydimethylsiloxane membrane contactor process for selective hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas.

H2S in biogas affects the co-generation performance adversely by corroding some critical components within the engine and it has to be removed in order to improve the biogas quality. This work presents the use of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane contactor for selective removal of H2S from the biogas. Experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects of different pH of absorption liquid, biogas flowrate and temperature on the absorption performances. The results revealed that at the lowest loading rate (91mg H2S/m2·h) more than 98% H2S and 59% CO2 absorption efficiencies were achieved. The CH4 content in the treated gas increased from 60 to 80% with nearly 5% CH4 loss. Increasing the pH (7-10) and loading rate (91-355mg H2S/m2·h) enhanced the H2S absorption capacity, and the maximum H2S/CO2 and H2S/CH4 selectivity factors were 2.5 and 58, respectively. Temperature played a key role in the process and lower temperature was beneficial for intensifying H2S absorption performance. The highest H2S fluxes at pH 10 and 7 were 3.4g/m2·d and 1.8g/m2·d with overall mass transfer coefficients of 6.91×10-6 and 4.99×10-6m/s, respectively. The results showed that moderately high H2S fluxes with low CH4 loss may be achieved by using a robust and cost-effective membrane based absorption process for desulfurization of biogas. A tubular PDMS membrane contactor was tested for the first time to remove H2S from biogas under slightly alkaline conditions and the suggested process could be a promising for real scale applications.

A novel elemental sulfur-based mixotrophic denitrifying membrane bioreactor for simultaneous Cr(VI) and nitrate reduction.

This study aims at investigating the simultaneous nitrate and chromate reduction by combining the advantages of sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification, heterotrophic denitrification and membrane bioreactor (MBR) technologies. A laboratory-scale MBR equipped with hydrophilic flat sheet polyethersulfone (PES) membranes (0.45µm) was used to evaluate the performance of mixotrophic denitrification at varying nitrate and Cr(VI) concentrations. Methanol was supplied at C/N (mg methanol/mg NO3--N) ratio of 1.33. In the absence of Cr(VI), almost complete denitrification of 50mg/L NO3--N was obtained and the methanol requirement (3.60±0.9mg COD/(mg NO3--N)) for heterotrophic denitrifiers, was quite close to the theoretical value (3.7mg COD/(mg NO3--N)). Around 54% of the influent nitrate was denitrified by heterotrophs and the rest (56%) was denitrified by autotrophic sulfur oxidizers. The effluent sulfate averaged around 200mg/L, which was below than the theoretical sulfate concentration if autotrophic denitrification process was used alone. Autotrophic denitrification activity completely ceased at 5mg/L Cr(VI), but heterotrophic denitrification did not show any inhibition. Almost complete chromate and nitrate reduction was observed at 1mg/L Cr(VI). MBR was operated for around 200days and a weekly physical membrane cleaning was enough at a flux of 15 LMH.

Heterotrophic-autotrophic sequential system for reductive nitrate and perchlorate removal.

Nitrate and perchlorate were identified as significant water contaminants all over the world. This study aims at evaluating the performances of the heterotrophic-autotrophic sequential denitrification process for reductive nitrate and perchlorate removal from drinking water. The reduced nitrate concentration in the heterotrophic reactor increased with increasing methanol concentrations and the remaining nitrate/nitrite was further removed in the following autotrophic denitrifying process. The performances of the sequential process were studied under varying nitrate loads of [Formula: see text] at a fixed hydraulic retention time of 2 h. The C/N ratio in the heterotrophic reactor varied between 1.24 and 2.77 throughout the study. Nitrate and perchlorate reduced completely with maximum initial concentrations of [Formula: see text] and 1000 µg/L, respectively. The maximum denitrification rate for the heterotrophic reactor was [Formula: see text] when the bioreactor was fed with [Formula: see text] and 277 mg/L methanol. For the autotrophic reactor, the highest denitrification rate was [Formula: see text] in the first period when the heterotrophic reactor performance was low. Perchlorate reduction was initiated in the heterotrophic reactor, but completed in the following autotrophic process. Effluent sulphate concentration was below the drinking water standard level of 250 mg/L and pH was in the neutral level.

Performances of anaerobic and aerobic membrane bioreactors for the treatment of synthetic textile wastewater.

This study aims at comparatively evaluating anaerobic and aerobic MBRs for the treatment of azo-dye containing synthetic wastewater. Also, the filtration performances of AnMBR and AeMBR were compared under similar operating conditions. In both MBRs, high COD removal efficiencies were observed. Although almost complete color removal was observed in AnMBR, only partial (30-50%) color removal was achieved in AeMBR. AnMBR was successfully operated up to 9 L/(m(2)h) (LMH) and no chemical cleaning was required at 4.5 LMH for around 50 days. AeMBR was operated successfully up to 20 LMH. The filtration resistance of AnMBR was generally higher compared to AeMBR although reversible fouling rates were comparable. In both MBRs, offline chemical cleaning with NaOCl and sulfuric acid almost completely removed irreversible fouling and the resistances of chemically cleaned membranes were close to those of new membranes.

Use of elemental sulfur and thiosulfate as electron sources for water denitrification.

This study aims at comparing the sulfur-based autotrophic and mixotrophic denitrification performances in fixed-bed bioreactors to reveal the impact of alkalinity source, methanol supplementation and use of thiosulfate as electron source. Three different columns were operated. Reactor 1 was packed with elemental sulfur (3-5 mm) and limestone (1-3 mm). The second reactor (reactor 2) was packed with elemental sulfur (3-5 mm) and bicarbonate was used as alkalinity source. In the third reactor (reactor 3), thiosulfate and bicarbonate were used as electron and alkalinity sources, respectively. Nearly complete autotrophic denitrification was attained at loading rates of 0.1, 0.36, and 0.1 g NO3 (-)-N/(L day) in reactors 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Sulfate generated in autotrophic denitrification processes was nearly stoichiometric. Stimulating simultaneous heterotrophic and autotrophic denitrification by dozing methanol increased denitrification rate up to 0.72 g NO3 (-)-N/(L day), decreased alkalinity requirement, and reduced sulfate generation.

Kinetics of autotrophic denitrification process and the impact of sulphur/limestone ratio on the process performance.

Kinetics of sulphur-limestone autotrophic denitrification process in batch assays and the impact of sulphur/limestone ratio on the process performance in long-term operated packed-bed bioreactors were evaluated. The specific nitrate and nitrite reduction rates increased almost linearly with the increasing initial nitrate and nitrite concentrations, respectively. The process performance was evaluated in three parallel packed-bed bioreactors filled with different sulphur/limestone ratios (1:1, 2:1 and 3:1, v/v). Performances of the bioreactors were studied under varying nitrate loadings (0.05 - 0.80 gNO(-)(3) - NL⁻¹ d⁻¹) and hydraulic retention times (3-12 h). The maximum nitrate reduction rate of 0.66 g L⁻¹ d⁻¹ was observed at the loading rate of 0.80 g NO(-)(3) - N L⁻¹ d⁻¹ in the reactor with sulphur/limestone ratio of 3:1. Throughout the study, nitrite concentrations remained quite low (i.e. below 0.5 mg L⁻¹ NO(-)(2) -N. The reactor performance increased in the order of sulphur/limestone ratio of 3:1, 2:1 and 1:1. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of 16S rRNA genes showed quite stable communities in the reactors with the presence of Methylo virgulaligni, Sulfurimonas autotrophica, Sulfurovum lithotrophicum, Thiobacillus aquaesulis and Sulfurimonas autotrophica related species.

Pilot and full scale applications of sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification process for nitrate removal from activated sludge process effluent.

Sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification of nitrified activated sludge process effluent was studied in pilot and full scale column bioreactors. Three identical pilot scale column bioreactors packed with varying sulfur/lime-stone ratios (1/1-3/1) were setup in a local wastewater treatment plant and the performances were compared under varying loading conditions for long-term operation. Complete denitrification was obtained in all pilot bioreactors even at nitrate loading of 10 mg NO3(-)-N/(L.h). When the temperature decreased to 10 °C during the winter time at loading of 18 mg NO3(-)-N/(L.h), denitrification efficiency decreased to 60-70% and the bioreactor with S/L ratio of 1/1 gave slightly better performance. A full scale sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification process with a S/L ratio of 1/1 was set up for the denitrification of an activated sludge process effluent with a flow rate of 40 m(3)/d. Almost complete denitrification was attained with a nitrate loading rate of 6.25 mg NO3(-)-N/(L.h).