Nitrogen Removal Efficiency for Pharmaceutical Wastewater with a Single-Stage Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation Process

Lushen Zuo, Hong Yao, Huayu Li, Liru Fan and Fangxu Jia
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Lushen Zuo: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Hong Yao: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Huayu Li: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Liru Fan: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Fangxu Jia: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-9

Abstract: A single-stage anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) process with an integrated biofilm–activated sludge system was carried out in a laboratory-scale flow-through reactor (volume = 57.6 L) to treat pharmaceutical wastewater containing chlortetracycline. Partial nitrification was successfully achieved after 48 days of treatment with a nitrite accumulation of 70%. The activity of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) decreased when the chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of the influent was 3000 mg/L. When switching to the single-stage ANAMMOX operation, (T = 32–34 °C, DO = 0.4–0.8 mg/L, pH = 8.0–8.5), the total nitrogen (TN) removal loading rate and efficiency were 1.0 kg/m 3 /d and 75.2%, respectively, when the ammonium concentration of the influent was 287 ± 146 mg/L for 73 days. The findings of this study imply that single-stage ANAMMOX can achieve high nitrogen removal rates and effectively treat pharmaceutical wastewater with high concentrations of COD (1000 mg/L) and ammonium.

Keywords: pharmaceutical wastewater; nitrogen removal; single-stage ANAMMOX; chlortetracycline; COD (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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