Nitrogen removal efficiencies and microbial communities in full-scale IFAS and MBBR municipal wastewater treatment plants at high COD:N ratio

doi:10.1007/s11783-020-1374-2

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2020, Vol. 14

Issue (6) : 115 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1374-2

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Nitrogen removal efficiencies and microbial communities in full-scale IFAS and MBBR municipal wastewater treatment plants at high COD:N ratio

Supaporn Phanwilai¹, Naluporn Kangwannarakul¹, Pongsak (Lek) Noophan¹(

), Tamao Kasahara², Akihiko Terada³, Junko Munakata-Marr⁴, Linda Ann Figueroa⁴

¹. Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
². Laboratory of Ecohydrology, Division of Forest Sciences, Department of Agro-environmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
³. Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute of Global Innovation Research, Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology, Tokyo 184-8588, Japan
⁴. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA

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Abstract

• Two IFAS and two MBBR full-scale systems (high COD:N ratio 8:1) were characterized.

• High specific surface area carriers grew and retained slow-growing nitrifiers.

• High TN removal is related to high SRT and low DO concentration in anoxic tanks.

The relative locations of AOB, NOB, and DNB were examined for three different kinds of carriers in two types of hybrid biofilm process configurations: integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) and moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) processes. IFAS water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) used Anodkalness^TM K1 carriers (KC) at Broomfield, Colorado, USA and polypropylene resin carriers (RC) at Fukuoka, Japan, while MBBR WRRFs used KC carriers at South Adams County, Colorado, USA and sponge carriers (SC) at Saga, Japan. Influent COD to N ratios ranged from 8:1 to 15:1. The COD and BOD removal efficiencies were high (96%–98%); NH₄⁺-N and TN removal efficiencies were more varied at 72%–98% and 64%–77%, respectively. The extent of TN removal was higher at high SRT, high COD:N ratio and low DO concentration in the anoxic tank. In IFAS, RC with high specific surface area (SSA) maintained higher AOB population than KC. Sponge carriers with high SSA maintained higher overall bacteria population than KC in MBBR systems. However, the DNB were not more abundant in high SSA carriers. The diversity of AOB, NOB, and DNB was fairly similar in different carriers. Nitrosomonas sp. dominated over Nitrosospira sp. while denitrifying bacteria included Rhodobacter sp., Sulfuritalea sp., Rubrivivax sp., Paracoccus sp., and Pseudomonas sp. The results from this work suggest that high SRT, high COD:N ratio, low DO concentration in anoxic tanks, and carriers with greater surface area may be recommended for high COD, BOD and TN removal in WRRFs with IFAS and MBBR systems.

Keywords IFAS MBBR Anodkalness^TM K1 carrier Polypropylene resin carrier Sponge carrier

Corresponding Author(s): Pongsak (Lek) Noophan

Issue Date: 19 November 2020

Cite this article:

Supaporn Phanwilai,Naluporn Kangwannarakul,Pongsak (Lek) Noophan, et al. Nitrogen removal efficiencies and microbial communities in full-scale IFAS and MBBR municipal wastewater treatment plants at high COD:N ratio[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2020, 14(6): 115.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-020-1374-2
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2020/V14/I6/115

Fig.1 Biomass types of IFAS with Anodkalness^TM K1 carrier (KC) in Broomfield (A-left), and with polypropylene resin carrier (RC) in Fukuoka (A-right) and MBBR with Anodkalness^TM K1 carrier (KC) in South Adams County (B-left) and with sponge carrier (SC) in Saga (B-right).

Fig.2 Schematic of full-scale WRRF with IFAS process in Broomfield (A), and Fukuoka (B) and MBBR process in South Adams County (C) and Saga (D).

Tab.1 Operational parameters of full-scale IFAS and MBBR WRRFs

Tab.2 Physical and chemical characteristics of influent (Inf.) and effluent (Eff.) in full-scale IFAS and MBBR WRRFs

Fig.3 Concentrations of AOB, NSR, Nitro, nirS and nirK genes compared with total bacteria (EUB). (A) IFAS plant with KC at Broomfield, (B) IFAS plant with RC at Fukuoka, (C) MBBR plant with KC at South Adams County and (D) MBBR plant with SC carriers at Saga.

Tab.3 Classification of AOB by DGGE sequencing analysis

Tab.4 Classification of denitrifying bacteria by DGGE sequencing analysis

Fig.4 SEM images of the carriers of KC at Broomfield (A) and RC at Fukuoka (B) by IFAS WRRF and KC at South Adams County (C) and Saga (D) by MBBR WRRF.

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[1]	Hallvard Ødegaard. A road-map for energy-neutral wastewater treatment plants of the future based on compact technologies (including MBBR)[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2016, 10(4): 2-.

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