Effects of initial alkalinity and elemental sulfur: dolomitic limestone ratio on autotrophic denitrification of poultry wastewater

Abstract

Autotrophic denitrification from elemental sulfur is an alternative to heterotrophic denitrification for substrates with a low C/N ratio. In this process, nitrogen compounds are reduced from elemental sulfur instead of carbon, as in the conventional process. However, it may be limited by the low concentration of alkalinity in these effluents. Thus, this study evaluated the performance of autotrophic denitrification of nitrified poultry effluent in four fixed bed reactors with a ratio of elemental sulfur/dolomitic limestone (1:0, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3 v/v) under conditions of the decline of initial alkalinity (1000, 800, 600, 400 and 200 mg CaCO3 L-1). Denitrification efficiencies greater than 84.8% were observed in conditions of initial alkalinity greater than 600 mg CaCO3 L-1 in the four reactors, associated with maximum yields of 445.1 mg SO4-2 L-1. The slow dissolution of dolomitic limestone may have impaired denitrification efficiency in conditions of initial alkalinity lower than 600 mg CaCO3 L-1. The autotrophic denitrification process proved viable for the treatment of nitrified effluent, and its efficiency was linked to the food substrate and the dissolution of dolomitic limestone.