Nitrogen Reduction – Volume Demand
Due to the slow growth of nitrification bacteria at low temperatures, nitrogen reduction normally requires long hydraulic retention time during winter. Important for the nitrification process is the aerated sludge age. Factors influencing the sludge age are aerated volume, mixed liquor suspended solids concentration, organic loading and sludge yield. In an existing plant you cannot easily expand the volume and the load is difficult to decrease. But the suspended solids concentration can be increased by running the biological step with the contact stabilisation process. At the Käppala Association sewage treatment plant in Lidingö just outside Stockholm, one of the six aeration tanks has been reconstructed for full scale nitrogen removal experiments. In this tank the old aeration system has been replaced with rubber membrane diffusers. Further more there are several zones separated by walls in the tank. The tank can thereby be run with great flexibility. By running it with the contact stabilisation process, the sludge age has been improved by a factor between 1.5 and 2 and thereby it succeeds in keeping the nitrification bacteria in the system even during snow melting. At temperatures of about 9 °C and hydraulic retention times of less than 3 hours in the contact zone there has been a nitrification degree of up to 50 to 60 %. The experiment was conducted with a stabilisation zone of up to half the total volume of the aeration tank. The main purpose for the experiments during the winter seasons was to improve nitrification. Keeping the nitrifiers in the system had been a crucial problem during previous years. When the nitrifiers were lost with an increased flow and decreased temperature the nitrification process didn't restart until the temperature was increased and the load decreased. Usually this didn't occur until the middle of the summer meaning a loss of nitrification for up to six months. In Sweden there is a goal set for 50 % nitrogen reduction for the plants in the Stockholm region. At Käppala we manage to keep 60 to 70 % nitrogen reduction during the warm season, that is from July to December. If we can keep up the nitrification the whole year we can achieve 50 % as a yearly average under normal conditions even though we can't keep the nitrogen reduction rate as high during the cold season.