New anaerobic process of nitrogen removal

This paper reports on successful laboratory testing of a new nitrogen removal process called DEAMOX (DEnitrifying AMmonium OXidation) for the treatment of strong nitrogenous wastewater such as baker's yeast effluent. The concept of this process combines the recently discovered ANAMMOX (ANaerobic AMMonium OXidation) reaction with autotrophic denitrifying conditions using sulfide as an electron donor for the production of nitrite within an anaerobic biofilm. The achieved results with a nitrogen loading rate of higher than 1, 000 mg/L/d and nitrogen removal of around 90% look very promising because they exceed (by 9–18 times) the corresponding nitrogen removal rates of conventional activated sludge systems. The paper describes also some characteristics of DEAMOX sludge, as well as the preliminary results of its microbiological characterization.