Increasing volumes of wastewater combined with limited space availability and progressively tightening European standards promote the development of new intensive biotechnologies for water treatment. Fixed biomass processes offer several advantages compared with conventional biological treatments: higher volumetric load, increased process stability and compactness of the reactors. The purpose of this paper is to present a new concept of gas-lift mobile bed, the circulating floating bed reactor (CFBR). The reactor design is simple and does not require any complex technical devices (easier effluent and air-flow distribution, no primary settling, no back-washing).
This new process is studied and developed in an industrial-scale prototype. The optimum hydrodynamic characteristics of the CFBR (liquid circulation velocity 0.3-0.4 m s−1, kLa 50-300 h−1, average mixing time 85 s) were not deteriorated by the high solid hold-ups (up to 40% v/v) of the floating media. On the contrary, three-phase operating improves the local gas hold-up in the downcomer. Improved hydrodynamics in the CFBR guarantee high nitrification rates and operation stability either in tertiary (up to 2 kgN m−3 d−1) or secondary (up to 0.6 kgN m−3 d−1) nitrification. The results show that nitrification is the limiting step in simultaneous C+N treatment. The negative effect of the increasing C/N ratio is more pronounced than stepwise decreasing of the temperature. The study of the biofilm composition and activity shows an effective control of the attached biomass growth by the high liquid circulation velocity.
It is concluded that this new three-phase bioreactor ensures not only an enhanced process stability and biological reaction rate through an effective biofilm control but also guarantees an excellent synergy between hydrodynamic and biological performances. These advantages are highlighted by the simplicity of the reactor design. Thus, this innovative technology will be an attractive solution for intensive wastewater treatment for nitrogen and carbon removal.
