In recent years a completely autotrophic nitrogen removal process based on Anammox biomass has been tested in a few European countries in order to treat anaerobic supernatant and to increase the COD/N ratio in municipal wastewater. This work reports experimental results on a possible technical solution to upgrade the S. Colombano treatment plant which treats wastewater from the Florentine urban area. The idea is to use 50% of the volume of the anaerobic digester in order to treat external sewage sludge (as septic tank sludge) together with waste activated sludge and to treat the resulting effluent on a SHARON-ANAMMOX process in order to remove nitrogen from the anaerobic supernatant. Anaerobic co-digestion, tested in a 200 L pilot plant, enables low cost treatment of septic tank sludge and increases biogas production; however, it also increases the nitrogen load re-circulated to the WWTP, where nitrogen removal efficiency is already low (<50%), due to the low COD/N ratio, which limits predenitrification efficiency. Experimental results from a SHARON process tested in a lab-scale pilot plant show that nitrite oxidising bacteria are washed-out and steady nitrite production can be achieved at retention times in the range 1–1.5 days, at 35 °C. In a lab-scale SBR reactor, coupled with a nitration bioreactor, maximum specific nitrogen removal rate under nitrite-limiting conditions (with doubling time equal to about 26 days at 35 °C) was equal to 0.22 kgN/kgSSV/d, about 44 times the rate measured in inoculum Anammox sludge. Finally, a cost analysis of the proposed upgrade is reported.
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Research Article|
August 01 2005
Upgrading of Florence wastewater treatment plant: co-digestion and nitrogen autotrophic removal
S. Caffaz;
*Department of Civil Engineering – University of Florence, Italy, (E-mail: scaffaz@dicea.unifi.it; claudio@dicea.unifi.it)
E-mail: scaffaz@dicea.unifi.it
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R. Canziani;
R. Canziani
**D.I.I.A.R. – Polytechnic of Milan, Italy, (E-mail: roberto.canziani@polimi.it)
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C. Lubello;
C. Lubello
*Department of Civil Engineering – University of Florence, Italy, (E-mail: scaffaz@dicea.unifi.it; claudio@dicea.unifi.it)
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D. Santianni
D. Santianni
***Publiacqua SpA (E-mail: D.Santianni@publiacqua.it)
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Water Sci Technol (2005) 52 (4): 9–17.
Citation
S. Caffaz, R. Canziani, C. Lubello, D. Santianni; Upgrading of Florence wastewater treatment plant: co-digestion and nitrogen autotrophic removal. Water Sci Technol 1 August 2005; 52 (4): 9–17. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2005.0082
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