Anammox growth on pretreated municipal wastewater.

Autotrophic nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater enables development of energy autarkic wastewater treatment plants. In this study we report the evaluation of the anammox process in a granular sludge fluidized bed lab-scale reactor continuously fed with the actual effluent of the A-stage of the WWTP of Dokhaven, Rotterdam. The reactor was anoxic, and nitrite was dosed continuously to support anammox activity only.

Nitrogen removal by a nitritation-anammox bioreactor at low temperature.

Currently, nitritation-anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) bioreactors are designed to treat wastewaters with high ammonium concentrations at mesophilic temperatures (25 to 40°C). The implementation of this technology at ambient temperatures for nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater following carbon removal may lead to more-sustainable technology with energy and cost savings. However, the application of nitritation-anammox bioreactors at low temperatures (characteristic of municipal wastewaters except in tropical and subtropical regions) has not yet been explored.