COMPARISON OF PERFORMANCES OF BIOLOGICAL NUTRIENT REMOVAL SYSTEMS FOR MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT

Abstract

Performance of wastewater treatment processes depends on many factors including wastewater characteristics, environmental conditions and operating parameters. Several treatment processes have their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of treatment performance. Performances of anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A²O), five-stage Bardenpho (fsB), University of Cape Town (UCT), and modified UCT processes for biological nutrient removal from municipal wastewaters were evaluated at various C:N:P ratios in primary effluent by keeping all other parameters identical to each other in each process. The comparison was based on steady-state removal efficiencies for chemical oxygen demand (COD), total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorous (TP). Simulations were performed using an MS Excel Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) tool based on Activated Sludge Model No.3 extended with biological phosphorous removal processes. Simulation results indicated that, for low-to-mid influent TKN/COD ratios, fsB process shows the best performance in terms of TN and TP removal. On the other hand, modified UCT process can be the best selection at high influent TKN/COD ratios if only phosphorous removal is of concern. Five-stage Bardenpho process must be selected for both nitrogen and phosphorous removal no matter the influent C:N:P ratio is.

Keywords

• Enhanced municipal wastewater treatment
• biological nutrient removal
• nitrogen removal
• phosphorous removal
• process configurations
• activated sludge modeling

References

1. [1] Ashrafi E., Zeinabad A.M., Borghei S.M., Torresi E., Sierra J.M., “Optimising nutrient removal of a hybrid five-stage Bardenpho and moving bed biofilm reactor process using response surface methodology”, J Environ Chem Eng, 7, 102861, 2019.
2. [2] Shen Y., Gao J., Li L., “Municipal wastewater treatment via co-immobilized microalgal-bacterial symbiosis: Microorganism growth and nutrients removal”, Bioresource Technol, 243, 905–913, 2017.
3. [3] Wang D., Tooker N.B., Srinivasan V., Li G., Fernandez L.A., Schauer P., Menniti A., Maher C., Bott C.B., Dombrowski P., Barnard J.L., Onnis-Hayden A., Gu A.Z., “Side-stream enhanced biological phosphorus removal (S2EBPR) process improves system performance - A full-scale comparative study”, Water Res, 167, 115109, 2019.
4. [4] Han Y., Yang K., Yang T., Zhang M., Li L., “Bioaerosols emission and exposure risk of a wastewater treatment plant with A2O treatment process”, Ecotox Environ Safe, 169, 161-168, 2019.
5. [5] Azhdarpoor A., Abbasi L., Samaei M.R., “Investigation of a new double-stage aerobic-anoxic continuous-flow cyclic baffled bioreactor efficiency for wastewater nutrient removal”, J Environ Manage, 211, 1-8, 2018.
6. [6] Bashar R., Gungor K., Karthikeyan K.G., Barak P., “Cost effectiveness of phosphorus removal processes in municipal wastewater treatment”, Chemosphere, 197, 280-290, 2018.
7. [7] Diez-Montero R., De Florio L., Gonzalez-Viar M., Herrero M., Tejero I., “Performance evaluation of a novel anaerobic–anoxic sludge blanket reactor for biological nutrient removal treating municipal wastewater”, Bioresource Technol, 209, 195–204, 2016.
8. [8] Li S., Fei X., Chi Y., Jiao X., Wang L., Integrated temperature and DO effect on the lab scale A2O process: Performance, kinetics and microbial community”, Int Biodeter Biodegr, 133, 170-179, 2018.

9. [9] Czerwionka K., Makinia J., Pagilla K.R., Stensel H.D., “Characteristics and fate of organic nitrogen in municipal biological nutrient removal wastewater treatment plants”, Water Res, 46, 2057-2066, 2012.
10. [10] Islam M.S., Zhang Y., Dong S., McPhedran K.N., Rashed E.M., El-Shafei M.M., Noureldin A.M., El-Din M.G., “Dynamics of microbial community structure and nutrient removal from an innovative side-stream enhanced biological phosphorus removal process”, J Environ Manage, 198, 300-307, 2017.
11. [11] Fang F., Qiao L.L., Cao J.S., Li Y., Xie W.M., Sheng G.P., Yu H.Q., “Quantitative evaluation of A2O and reversed A2O processes for biological municipal wastewater treatment using a projection pursuit method”, Sep Purif Technol, 166, 164–170, 2016.
12. [12] Gallardo-Altamirano M.J., Maza-Marquez P., Pena-Herrera J.M., Rodelas B., Osorio F., Pozo C., “Removal of anti-inflammatory/analgesic pharmaceuticals from urban wastewater in a pilot-scale A2O system: Linking performance and microbial population dynamics to operating variables”, Sci Total Environ, 643, 1481–1492, 2018.
13. [13] Ravishankar A., Moazzem S., Jegatheesan V., “Performance evaluation of A2O MBR system with graphene oxide (GO)blended polysulfone (PSf) composite membrane for treatment of high strength synthetic wastewater containing lead”, Chemosphere, 234, 148-161, 2019.
14. [14] Rollemberg S.L.S., Barros A.N., Lira V.N.S.A., Firmino P.I.M., Santos A.B., “Comparison of the dynamics, biokinetics and microbial diversity between activated sludge flocs and aerobic granular sludge”, Bioresource Technol, 294, 122106, 2019.
15. [15] Ye C., Zhou Z., Li M., Liu Q., Xu T., Li J., “Evaluation of simultaneous organic matters and nutrients removal from municipal wastewater using a novel bioreactor (D-A2O) system”, J Environ Manage, 218, 509-515, 2018.
16. [16] Rong Y., Liu X., Wen L., Jin X., Shi X., Jin P., “Advanced nutrient removal in a continuous A2/O process based on partial nitrification-anammox and denitrifying phosphorus removal”, J Water Process Eng, 36, 101245, 2020.
17. [17] Zong Y.C., Hao K.Y., Li Y.W., Lu G.H., Huang D.C., “Nitrogen and phosphorous removal of pilot-scale anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic process under plateau environmental factors”, Appl Ecol Environ Res, 17(5), 12213-12226, 2019.
18. [18] Emara M.M., Ahmed F.A., Abdel-Aziz F., Abdel-Razek A., “Biological Nutrient Removal in Bardenpho Process”, Journal of American Science, 10, 1-9, 2014.
19. [19] Banayan Esfahani E., Asadi Zeidabadi F., Bazargan A., McKay G., “The Modified Bardenpho Process”, Springer International Publishing AG 2018, C. M. Hussain (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Materials Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58538-3_87-1
20. [20] Bashar R., Gungor K., Karthikeyan K.G., Barak P., “Cost effectiveness of phosphorus removal processes in municipal wastewater treatment”, Chemosphere, 197, 280-290, 2018.
21. [21] Manav Demir N., Yildirim A., Coskun T., Balcik Canpolat C., Debik E., “Carbon and nutrient removal from domestic wastewaters in a modified 5-stage Bardenpho process via fuzzy modeling approach”, Environ Prot Eng, 45(1), 5-16, 2019.
22. [22] Ruzhitskaya O., Gogina E., “Methods for Removing of Phosphates from Wastewater”, MATEC Web of Conferences., 106, 07006, 2017.
23. [23] Vaiopoulou E., Aivasidis A., “A modified UCT method for biological nutrient removal: Configuration and performance”, Chemosphere, 72, 1062–1068, 2008.
24. [24] Di Trapani D., Capodici M., Cosenza A., Di Bella G., Mannina G., Torregrossa M., Viviani G., “Evaluation of biomass activity and wastewater characterization in a UCT-MBR pilot plant by means of respirometric techniques”, Desalination, 269, 190-197, 2011.
25. [25] Tchobanoglous G., Burton F.L., Stensel H.D., “Wastewater Engineering Treatment and Reuse”, Metcalf and Eddy, McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, 2003.
26. [26] Li D., Li W., Zhang K., Zhang G., Zhang H., Zhang D., Lv P., Wu J., “Nutrient removal by full-scale Bi-Bio-Selector for nitrogen and phosphorus removal process treating urban domestic sewage at low C/N ratio and low temperature conditions”, Process Saf Environ, 140, 199-210, 2020.
27. [27] Zeng W., Wang X., Li B., Bai X., Peng Y., “Nitritation and denitrifying phosphorus removal via nitrite pathway from domestic wastewater in a continuous MUCT process”, Bioresour Technol, 143, 187-195, 2013.
28. [28] Zhang Y., Zhang C., Qiu Y., Li B., Pang H., Xue Y., Liu Y., Yuan Z., Huang X., “Wastewater treatment technology selection under various influent conditions and effluent standards based on life cycle assessment”, Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 154, 104562, 2020.
29. [29] Gujer W., Henze M., Mino T., van Loosdrecht M., “Activated sludge model no. 3”, Water Sci Technol, 39, 183-193, 1999.
30. [30] Rieger L., Koch G., Kühni M., Gujer W., Siegrist H., “The eawag bio-P module for activated sludge model no. 3”, Water Res, 35(16), 3887-3903, 2001.
31. [31] Hauduc H., Rieger L., Takacs I., Heduit A., Vonrolleghem P.A., Gillot S., “A systematic approach for model verification – Application on seven published activated sludge models”, Water Sci Technol, 61, 825-839, 2010.
32. [32] Takacs I., Patry G.G., Nolasco D., “A dynamic model of the clarification-thickening process”, Water Res, 25, 1263-1271, 1991.
33. [33] Rössle W.H., Pretorius W.A., “A review of characterization requirements for in-line prefermenters. Paper 1: Wastewater characterization”, Water SA, 27(3), 405-412, 2001.