Formation and characteristics of nitritation granules cultivated in sequencing batch reactor by stepwise increase of N/C ratio.

The cultivation of nitritation granules in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) by seeding conventional floccular activated sludge was investigated using ethanol-based synthetic wastewater. Reducing settling time offers selection pressure for aerobic granulation, and stepwise increase of influent N/C ratio can help to selectively enrich ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in aerobic granules. The spherical shaped granules were observed with the mean diameter of 1.

Effect of influent nutrient ratios and temperature on simultaneous phosphorus and nitrogen removal in a step-feed CAST.

A step-feed cyclic activated sludge technology (CAST) with a working volume of 72 L treating real municipal wastewater was operated to examine the effect of varying ratios of influent COD/TN and COD/P on the nutrient removal. With the increased COD/P and COD/TN, the phosphorus and nitrogen removals exhibited an upward trend. The TN removals had a positive linear correlation with the phosphorus removal efficiencies, mainly because the presence of nitrate in the anaerobic zone negatively affected the phosphorus release thus the nitrogen removal process took priority over the phosphorus removal process to utilize the limited carbon source in the influent in step-feed CAST where simultaneous removals of nitrogen and phosphorus were achieved.

Effect of free nitrous acid as inhibitors on nitrate reduction by a biological nutrient removal sludge.

Nitrite has been commonly thought to have a broad inhibitory effect on bacterial metabolism. Little is known about the impact of nitrite on nitrate reduction with pH considered as an important factor. This study investigates the nitrite inhibition on nitrate reduction during denitrification under various pH conditions by using a biological nutrient removal (BNR) sludge.

Intercross real-time control strategy in alternating activated sludge process for short-cut biological nitrogen removal treating domestic wastewater.

To develop technically feasible and economically favorable dynamic process control (DPC) strategies for an alternating activated sludge (AAS) system, a bench-scale continuous-flow alternating aerobic and anoxic reactor, performing short-cut nitrogen removal from real domestic wastewater was operated under different control strategies for more than five months. A fixed-time control (FTC) study showed that bending-points on pH and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) profiles accurately coincided with the major biological activities. "Ammonia valley" on the pH profile represented the end of nitrification, whereas, the "nitrite knee" on the ORP profile and "nitrite apex" on the pH profile both indicated the end of denitrification.

Nitrous oxide production during nitrogen removal from domestic wastewater in lab-scale sequencing batch reactor.

The production of N2O during nitrogen removal from real domestic wastewater was investigated in a lab-scale aerobic-anoxic sequencing batch reactor with a working volume of 14 L. The results showed that the total N2O-N production reached higher than 1.87 mg/L, and up to 4% of removed nitrogen was converted into N2O.