Potential of aerobic granular sludge technology for domestic wastewater treatment of high ammonia from urea fertilizer industry

Abstract

Fertilizer is the main element that has an essential role in the sector of agriculture. Urea fertilizer has a source of Nitrogen with 46.04%. Ammonia is a chemical complex that is used and produced from the processing of urea fertilizer. A specific domestic wastewater quality standard for industry explains that the maximum level of ammonia allowed in effluent water was 10 mg/l. In the urea fertilizer industry wastewater treatment results were found to be in the range of 19.49 - 42.4 mg/l. Activated sludge technology is considered fairly effective in wastewater treatment but requires a large amount of energy and additional land for handling excess sludge. From the disadvantages, it is necessary to conduct research related to the effectiveness of high ammonia wastewater treatment that is environmentally friendly. Aerobic granule is characterized by a compact and dense structure, high biomass residence time, resistance to shock loading and toxic compounds, and a high settling speed so that it can produce a compact reactor design. Aerobic granule allows ammonia removal to reach more than 97%. This article aims to review the potential of implementing the use of aerobic granular sludge technology for ammonia removal in the wastewater of the urea fertilizer industry.