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a,*
Department of Environmental Engineering, Kun Shan University of Technology, Tainan County 710, Taiwan, ROC
b
Department of Resource and Environment, Leader University, Tainan City 709, Taiwan, ROC
c
Department of Environmental Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City 701, Taiwan, ROC
Received 29 August 2004; received in revised form 3 March 2005; accepted 7 March 2005
Available online 26 April 2005
Abstract
A combined upow anaerobic sludge bedactivated sludge (UASBAS) reactor system with consistently wasting of
excess biomass was used to treat suspended-solids pre-settled piggery wastewater (COD = 2000 mg l1, total Kjeldahl
nitrogen TKN = 400 mg l1, suspended solids = 250400 mg l1). Thus, the activity of nitrogen-related microbial
groups in each individual bioreactor was investigated. When the granules retention time (GRT) of 2050 d in the UASB
reactor, the solids retention time (SRT) of 1025 d in the AS reactor and the recycle-to-inuent ratio (Re) of 1 were
maintained, the combined system removed 9597% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 100% of TKN and 5455%
of total nitrogen (TN). Denitrication and methanogenesis occurred in the UASB reactor so that both biochemical processes contributed to most of the COD removal and, complete nitrication (most of the TKN removal) occurred in the
AS reactor. Compact granules with good settling abilities developed in the UASB reactor, and rapid rates of granulation of break-up granules in the UASB reactor were conrmed by experiments. The activity of nitriers and denitriers
(an = 0.680.87; adn = 0.550.70) and the calculated specic nitrication and denitrication rates (qn = 0.26
1 1
1 1
0.47 mg NH
d ; qdn = 0.0460.076 mg NO
d ) signicantly increased with decreasing
4 N mg VSS
x N mg VSS
SRT and GRT, respectively. Accordingly, the combined UASBAS reactor system should be regarded a promising
alternative for the removal of organic carbon and nitrogen from piggery wastewater.
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Combined system; UASB; Activated sludge; Microbial activity; Piggery wastewater
1. Introduction
A separate-sludge system consisting of an anaerobic
denitrifying/methanogenic reactor and an additional
aerobic nitrifying reactor has been proven ecient in
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 6 2051331; fax: +886 6
2050540.
E-mail address: huangjsd@mail.ncku.edu.tw (J.S. Huang).
0045-6535/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2005.03.027
1033
1034
Biogas
3. Outer-water jacket
4. Gas-liquid-solids separator
5. Internal recycle
6. Sampling port
7. Excess biomass
8. Activated sludge reactor
9. Automatic heating rod
10. Settler
11. Sludge return
3 2 3
7
9
5
5
10
Effluent
8
6
12
7
11
Thermometer
1
13
Influent
Inuent COD = 2000 mg l1; inuent TKN = 400 mg l1; inuent alkalinity in test runs 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 1250, 1250, 1450, and 1550 mg CaCO3 l1, respectively. The inow rate
(Q), recycle-to-inuent ratio (Re), and hydraulic retention times of the UASB and AS reactors were maintained at 6 l d1, 1, 15.1 h, and 24.0 h, respectively.
a
Expressed in mg CaCO3 l1.
200
190
205
330
183
182
180
184
183
182
180
183
ND
ND
0.2
0.6
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.2
58
65
85
102
1420
1350
1550
1680
187
190
184
188
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
187
190
184
188
180
182
205
254
12.5
10.7
8.2
7.1
43.3
37.6
31.6
26.5
2080
1790
1370
1180
15 440
12 900
11 100
9200
25
20
15
10
50
40
25
20
1
2
3
4
TKN
COD
NO
2 N
TKN
COD
AS
AS
UASB
UASB
UASB
AS
UASB-euent
(mg l1)
Biomass
(g)
Xi (weighted mean)
(mg VSS l1)
GRT (SRT)
(d)
Test run
Table 1
Operating conditions and treatment performance of the combined UASBAS reactor system
NO
3 N
TN
Alka
AS-euent
(mg l1)
NO
2 N
NO
3 N
TN
Alka
1035
1036
S B;1 S B;1
2X B;i Dt
fi
k 0i
ki
ai
k 0i
ki
for runs 14
1037
Table 2
COD, TKN and TN removal eciencies of each individual bioreactor and the combined UASBAS reactor system
Test run
Removal (%)
COD
1
2
3
4
TKN
TN
UASB
AS
Combined system
UASB
AS
Combined system
UASB
AS
Combined system
85
85
84
80
12
12
12
15
97
97
96
95
7
5
8
6
93
95
92
94
100
100
100
100
52
51
53
52
2
4
2
2
54
55
55
54
6
1
3
H
e
!
N
H
O,
the
consumption
of
one
2
2
5
10
5
mole of NO
3 N generates 0.5 mole of nitrogen gas. By
using material-balance calculations together with
NO
3 N data over the UASB reactor (Table 1), the calculated N2 production rates ranged from 0.94 to 0.96 l d1
(mean = 0.95), which showed fairly good agreement with
the experimental data (0.850.88 l d1). This suggested
that the biogas (N2) data could be used for monitoring
and control of the combined UASBAS reactor system.
3.4. Alkalinity change in AS reactor
Nitrication in the AS reactor is accompanied by the
consumption of alkalinity. According to the stoichiometry of ammonia nitrication, 1 g of NH
4 N consumes
1.06
1.05
1.04
1.04
1.04
1.04
1.03
1.02
78
81
79
80
1
2
3
4
1.13
1.08
1.07
1.06
1.57
1.35
1.34
1.05
1.07
1.07
1.06
1.06
1.06
1.05
1.04
1.04
1.63
1.49
1.48
1.03
1.90
1.51
1.47
1.06
Weighted
mean
Upper
106 400
96 800
95 000
111 300
83 900
90 600
86 200
108 700
96 300
96 100
96 700
109 500
14 860
11 340
11 600
9480
19 040
16 220
13 200
9850
11 720
10 640
8300
8250
15 440
12 900
11 100
9200
133 200
103 300
101 500
115 000
Weighted
mean
Upper
Middle
Lower
Lower
Middle
Lower
Middle
Granule sp gr ()
H
(cm)
Test
run
Table 3
Granule characteristics of UASB reactor
2.0
1.5
1.0
During granulation
Upper
Middle
Lower
Original granules
Upper
Middle
Lower
0.5
0.0
0
10
12
Time (d)
7.14 g of alkalinity (expressed in CaCO3). Thus, materialbalance calculations together with TKN data over the AS
reactor (Table 1) were used to calculate the change in
alkalinity and compared with the measured values. The
ratios of DAlkcal/DAlkexp over the AS reactor ranged
from 0.94 to 1.14 (mean = 1.04), showing good agreement
between the predicted and measured values. This suggests
that the alkalinity data could be used for monitoring and
control of the combined UASBAS reactor system.
3.5. Evaluation of kinetic parameters
dp (mm)
Upper
Weighted
mean
Upper
Weighted
mean
Lower
Middle
1038
0.26
0.31
0.40
0.47
0
+16
+25
+28
0.68
0.79
0.85
0.87
60
55
117
108
RPE (relative percentage enhancement) was calculated by selecting the activity of nitriers (an) and specic nitrication rate (qn) determined at the SRT of 25 d as reference value.
Calculated by using the mass fraction of nitriers (fn) of 0.68 together with the performance data of the AS reactor.
c
RPE (relative percentage enhancement) was calculated by selecting the activity on denitriers (adn) and specic denitrication rate (qdn) determined at the GRT of 50 d as
reference value.
d
Calculated by using the mass fraction of denitriers (fdn) of 0.55 together with the performance data of the UASB reactor.
0
+16
+22
+27
0.55
0.64
0.67
0.70
60
57
81
57
0
+19
+54
+81
1790
2530
3250
3290
Initial NO
3 N
(mg l1)
Biomass conc.
(mg VSS l1)
Initial NH
4 N
(mg l1)
Biomass conc.
(mg VSS l1)
910
920
1000
940
1
2
3
4
0
+15
+35
+65
1039
0.046
0.053
0.062
0.076
qdnd (mg NH
4 N
mg VSS 1 d1)
RPE for
adnc (%)
adn ()
UASB
Batch test
RPE for
qna (%)
qnb (mg NH
4 N
mg VSS1 d1)
RPE for
ana (%)
an ()
AS
Batch test
If the fn and fdn values were multiplied by the biomass measured in the AS and UASB reactors, together
with the use of performance data shown in Tables 1
and 2, the specic nitrication and denitrication rates
(qn; qdn) could be calculated, respectively (Table 4).
The calculated qn and qdn values (0.260.47 mg NH
4
1
N mg VSS1 d1;
0.0460.076 mg NO
N
mg
VSS
x
1
d ) and the RPE values for qn and qdn [0(+81)%;
0(+65)%] increased with decreasing SRT (of the AS
reactor) and GRT (of the UASB reactor). Thus, a
shorter SRT resulted in higher activity of nitriers in
the AS reactor, while a shorter GRT gave higher activity
of denitriers in the UASB reactor.
The qn values of the present study were relatively
lower than those of Campos et al. (1999) (qn = 0.5
1 1
0.7 mg NH
d ), because they conducted
4 N mg VSS
nitrication in an AS reactor at high ammonia loading
3 1
d and without the
rates of up to 7.5 kg NH
4 N m
Test run
Table 4
Activity of nitrogen-related microbial groups and specic nitrication and denitrication rates in the combined UASBAS reactor system
RPE for
qdnc (%)
1040
1041