Abstract
The presence of nitrate in water and wastewater is a serious environmental problem. Anoxic rotating biological contactors (RBC) are a promising novel technology for nitrate removal. In this study the effect of two carbon/nitrogen (C/N) molar ratios (1.5 and 3.0) on denitrification, using acetate as a carbon source, were investigated in an anoxic bench‐scale RBC, treating synthetic wastewater. The effect of different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) and different nitrogen and carbon influent concentrations on the reactor performance, at constant C/N, were also analysed. The average removal efficiency in terms of nitrogen‐nitrate was about 90.4% at C/N = 1.5, lowering to 73.7% at C/N = 3.0. Considering carbon‐acetate removal, overall efficiencies of 82.0% and 63.6% were attained at C/N ratios of 1.5 and 3.0, respectively. The increase in nitrogen‐nitrate (from 50 to 100 mg N‐NO3 − L−1) and carbon‐acetate influent concentrations and the decrease in HRT, keeping C/N constant, had a slight negative effect in terms of substrate removal. It was found that, for the tested conditions, the use of C/N = 1.5 is advantageous to denitrification. The anoxic RBC was significantly effective at reducing nitrate concentrations within a relatively short HRT. These reactors may be a feasible option for the treatment of nitrate‐rich wastewaters.
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