Nitrite Accumulation at Low Ammonia Concentrations in Wastewater Treatment Plants

Hareef Ahmed Keerio (), Wookeun Bae () and Sallahuddin Panhwar
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Hareef Ahmed Keerio: Department of Environment Engineering, Quaid E Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology, Nawabshah 67450, Sindh, Pakistan
Wookeun Bae: Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa 16417, Ethiopia
Sallahuddin Panhwar: Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Quetta 24090, Balochistan, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-10

Abstract: At higher ammonium concentrations, nitritation can be easily attained by picking out the inhibitor. In low-concentrated reactors, nitrite accumulation without using any chemical inhibitor is a challenging process. In this study, two continuous stirred-tank reactors (CSTR) with biofilm and without biofilm were operated with total ammonium nitrogen feed concentrations of ~50 mg/L and ~30 mg/L and effluent concentrations of ~1 mg/L. A CSTR without biofilm was operated in three phases. In phase 1, a substrate-shock concentration of 1 to 2000 mg total ammonium nitrogen (TAN)/L was tested. It was found that the shock concentration was not successful in long-term operations because nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) recovered rapidly. In phases 2 and 3, the sludge-treatment method was applied, and a high nitrite accumulation efficiency was achieved (~98%). In a CSTR with biofilm, the free ammonia shock concentration was ~91.7 mg/L, and a nitrite accumulation efficiency of ~90% was achieved.

Keywords: substrate shocks; sludge treatment; nitrite accumulation efficiency; partial nitrification; ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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