Aerobic and anaerobic ammonium oxidation can be combined in a completely mixed moving bed biofilm reactor, allowing for single-stage ammonium removal from wastewater with low COD/N ratio unsuitable for conventional nitrification/denitrification processes (‘deammonification’). Mandatory preconditions are: (a) a low hydraulic retention time to wash out suspended cells competing with mass transfer limited biofilm cells for alkalinity as limiting substrate; and (b) an oxygen flux adapted to the surface loading rate to prevent complete nitrification to nitrate. pH control or ‘NH3 inhibition’ of nitrite oxidation are neither useful nor necessary. By this strategy, oxygen limited biofilms with simultaneous presence of NH4-N and NO2-N were enriched, which allowed for growth of anaerobic ammonium oxidizers. It could be demonstrated that a deammonifying reactor can be purposefully started up within a reasonable span of time and without prior inoculation, if this explicitly described strategy is applied. Depending on surface loading and air flow rate, N removal rates of 4–5 g N/m2 d could be achieved at DO concentrations between 1.0 and 4.0 mg/l.
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Research Article|
October 01 2005
Start-up of moving bed biofilm reactors for deammonification: the role of hydraulic retention time, alkalinity and oxygen supply
T. Gaul;
1Environmental Biotechnology Group, Institute for Water Quality and Waste Management, University of Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover, Germany
E-mail: [email protected]
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S. Märker;
S. Märker
1Environmental Biotechnology Group, Institute for Water Quality and Waste Management, University of Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover, Germany
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S. Kunst
S. Kunst
1Environmental Biotechnology Group, Institute for Water Quality and Waste Management, University of Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover, Germany
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Water Sci Technol (2005) 52 (7): 127–133.
Citation
T. Gaul, S. Märker, S. Kunst; Start-up of moving bed biofilm reactors for deammonification: the role of hydraulic retention time, alkalinity and oxygen supply. Water Sci Technol 1 October 2005; 52 (7): 127–133. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2005.0191
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