Combined biologic aerated filter and sulfur/ceramisite autotrophic denitrification for advanced wastewater nitrogen removal at low temperatures

Abstract

An innovative advanced wastewater treatment process combining biologic aerated filter (BAF) and sulfur/ceramisite-based autotrophic denitrification (SCAD) for reliable removal of nitrogen was proposed in this paper. In SCAD reactor, ceramisite was used as filter and Ca (HCO3)2 was used for supplying alkalinity and carbon source. The BAF-SCAD was used to treat the secondary treatment effluent. The performance of this process was investigated, and the impact of temperature on nitrogen removal was studied. Results showed that the combined system was effective in nitrogen removal even at low temperatures (8 °C). Removal of total nitrogen (TN), NH4+ -N, NO3− -N reached above 90% at room temperature. Nitrification was affected by the temperature and nitrification at low temperature (8 °C) was a limiting factor for TN removal. However, denitrification was not impacted by the temperature and the removal of NO3− -N maintained 98% during the experimental period. The reason of effective denitrification at low temperature might be the use of easily dissolved Ca(HCO3)2 and high-flux ceramisite, which solved the problem of low mass transfer efficiency at low temperatures. Besides, vast surface area of sulfur with diameter of 2–6 mm enhanced the rate of microbial utilization. The removal of nitrate companied with the production of SO42−, and the average concentration of SO42− was about 240 mg·L−1. These findings would be beneficial for the application of this process to nitrogen removal especially in the winter and cold regions.