Modelling the N2O Emissions in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants under Dynamic Conditions

10.29007/w6rq ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theoni Massara ◽  
Borja Solis Duran ◽  
Albert Guisasola ◽  
Evina Katsou ◽  
Juan Antonio Baeza
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Partial Nitrification ◽  
Biological Nutrient Removal ◽  
N2o Emissions ◽  
Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria ◽  
N2o Production ◽  
Dynamic Conditions ◽  
Nitrifier Denitrification

Nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas with a significant global warming potential, can be produced during the biological nutrient removal in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). N2O modelling under dynamic conditions is of vital importance for its mitigation. Following the activated sludge models (ASM) layout, an ASM-type model was developed considering three biological N2O production pathways for a municipal anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic (A2/O) WWTP performing chemical oxygen demand, nitrogen and phosphorus removal. Precisely, the N2O production pathways included were: nitrifier denitrification, hydroxylamine oxidation, and heterotrophic denitrification, with the first two linked to the ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) activity. A stripping effectivity (SE) factor was used to mark the non-ideality of the stripping modelling. With the dissolved oxygen (DO) in the aerobic compartment ranging from 1.8 to 2.5 mg L-1, partial nitrification and high N2O production via nitrifier denitrification occurred. Therefore, low aeration strategies can effectively lead to a low overall carbon footprint only if complete nitrification is guaranteed. After suddenly increasing the influent ammonium load, the AOB had a greater growth compared to the NOB. N2O hotspot was again nitrifier denitrification. Especially under concurring partial nitrification and high stripping (i.e. combination of low DO and high SEs), the highest N2O emission factors were noted.

scholarly journals Light as a Novel Inhibitor of Nitrite-Oxidizing Bacteria (NOB) for the Mainstream Partial Nitrification of Wastewater Treatment

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 346
Author(s):  
Keugtae Kim ◽  
Yong-Gyun Park
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Blue Light ◽  
Nitrogen Removal ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Partial Nitrification ◽  
Biological Nutrient Removal ◽  
Nitrite Accumulation ◽  
Light Illumination ◽  
Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria ◽  
Nitrite Oxidizing Bacteria

Conventional biological nutrient removal processes in municipal wastewater treatment plants are energy-consuming, with oxygen supply accounting for 45–75% of the energy expenditure. Many recent studies examined the implications of the anammox process in sidestream wastewater treatment to reduce energy consumption, however, the process did not successfully remove nitrogen in mainstream wastewater treatment with relatively low ammonia concentrations. In this study, blue light was applied as an inhibitor of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in a photo sequencing batch reactor (PSBR) containing raw wastewater. This simulated a biological nitrogen removal system for the investigation of its application potential in nitrite accumulation and nitrogen removal. It was found that blue light illumination effectively inhibited NOB rather than ammonia-oxidizing bacteria due to their different sensitivity to light, resulting in partial nitrification. It was also observed that the NOB inhibition rates were affected by other operational parameters like mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration and sludge retention time (SRT). According to the obtained results, it was concluded that the process efficiency of partial nitrification and anammox (PN/A) could be significantly enhanced by blue light illumination with appropriate MLSS concentration and SRT conditions.

Nitrogen removal by recycle water nitritation as an attractive alternative for retrofit technologies in municipal wastewater treatment plants

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 39-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.-I. Gil ◽  
E. Choi
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Nitrogen Removal ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Biological Nutrient Removal ◽  
Recycle Water ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Effluent Quality ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Final Effluent

The recycle water from sludge processing in municipal wastewater treatment plants causes many serious problems in the efficiency and stability of the mainstream process. Thus, the design approach for recycle water is an important part of any biological nutrient removal system design when a retrofit technology is required for upgrading an existing plant. Moreover, the application of nitrogen removal from recycle water using the nitritation process has recently increased due to economic reasons associated with an effective carbon allocation as well as the minimization of aeration costs. However, for the actual application of recycle water nitritation, it has not been fully examined whether or not additional volume would be required in an existing plant. In this paper, the addition of recycle water nitritation to an existing plant was evaluated based on a volume analysis and estimation of final effluent quality. It was expected that using the reserve volume of the aeration tank in existing plants, recycle water nitritation could be applied to a plant without any enlargement. With the addition of recycle water nitritation, it was estimated that the final effluent quality would be improved and stabilized, especially in the winter season.

Automatic control and remote monitoring system for biological nutrient removal on small wastewater treatment plants in Korea

2004 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 199-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lee ◽  
Y.M. Min ◽  
C.H. Park ◽  
Y.H. Park
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Automatic Control ◽  
Monitoring System ◽  
Remote Monitoring ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Biological Nutrient Removal ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Efficient Operation ◽  
Remote Monitoring System

Many small-size wastewater treatment plants in KoreaÕs rural communities are designed to remove organic and suspended matter only, and they generally show a large fluctuation in the influent loading compared to municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWWTPs). They also have no professional engineers stationed for efficient operation against mechanical breakdown. For those reasons, the wastewater treatment plants have low efficiency in treatment of nitrogen and phosphorus as well as organic matter. In order to solve those problems, this study developed an automatic control system and RMS (remote monitoring system), which can keep efficiency stable despite any change in the small plants' loading rates and are capable of removing nutrient materials such as nitrogen or phosphorus. According to the results of the Experimental SBR system of the automatic control program, complete nitrification was made under oxic conditions and denitrification occurred as NO3-N concentration decreased by 0.5 mg/l in anoxic conditions and excellent nitrogen removal efficiency was seen generally. The Experimental SBR system created “phosphate release and uptake” effectively and displayed phosphate-removing efficiency up to more than 80% as the concentration of effluent was kept low by 0.4 mg/l. RMS developed in this study transmits a plants data and operation states to clients in remote locations in real-time interval through the Internet. Therefore, although you are in a remote location, it allows you to see if a plant is properly operated or there is any breakdown.

Nitrous oxide production by lithotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and implications for engineered nitrogen-removal systems

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1832-1837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kartik Chandran ◽  
Lisa Y. Stein ◽  
Martin G. Klotz ◽  
Mark C.M. van Loosdrecht
Keyword(s):  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Nitrogen Removal ◽  
Ammonia Oxidation ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
N2o Emissions ◽  
Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria ◽  
N2o Production ◽  
Nitrogen Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Inventories ◽  
Nitrogen Concentrations

Chemolithoautotrophic AOB (ammonia-oxidizing bacteria) form a crucial component in microbial nitrogen cycling in both natural and engineered systems. Under specific conditions, including transitions from anoxic to oxic conditions and/or excessive ammonia loading, and the presence of high nitrite (NO2−) concentrations, these bacteria are also documented to produce nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) gases. Essentially, ammonia oxidation in the presence of non-limiting substrate concentrations (ammonia and O2) is associated with N2O production. An exceptional scenario that leads to such conditions is the periodical switch between anoxic and oxic conditions, which is rather common in engineered nitrogen-removal systems. In particular, the recovery from, rather than imposition of, anoxic conditions has been demonstrated to result in N2O production. However, applied engineering perspectives, so far, have largely ignored the contribution of nitrification to N2O emissions in greenhouse gas inventories from wastewater-treatment plants. Recent field-scale measurements have revealed that nitrification-related N2O emissions are generally far higher than emissions assigned to heterotrophic denitrification. In the present paper, the metabolic pathways, which could potentially contribute to NO and N2O production by AOB have been conceptually reconstructed under conditions especially relevant to engineered nitrogen-removal systems. Taken together, the reconstructed pathways, field- and laboratory-scale results suggest that engineering designs that achieve low effluent aqueous nitrogen concentrations also minimize gaseous nitrogen emissions.

Distillery wastes as external carbon sources for denitrification in municipal wastewater treatment plants

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (9) ◽  
pp. 1583-1590 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Czerwionka ◽  
J. Makinia ◽  
M. Kaszubowska ◽  
J. Majtacz ◽  
M. Angowski
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Carbon Sources ◽  
Biological Nutrient Removal ◽  
Yield Coefficient ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Reject Water ◽  
Fusel Oils ◽  
By Products

In this study, by-products from alcohol production were examined in terms of their potential application as external carbon sources for enhancing denitrification in biological nutrient removal systems. Three types of batch tests were used to compare the effects of the distillery by-products, such as fusel oil, syrup and reject water, on the non-acclimated activated sludge. Much higher nitrate utilization rates (NURs) were observed for the latter two carbon sources. In the conventional NUR measurements (one-phase experiments), the observed NURs with syrup and reject water were 3.2–3.3 g N/(kg VSS h) compared with 1.0 g N/(kg VSS h) obtained for fusel oils from two different distilleries. When the carbon sources were added at the beginning of the anoxic phase preceded by an anaerobic phase (two-phase experiments), the NURs were 4.2 g N/(kg VSS h) (syrup and reject water) and 2.4–2.7 g N/(kg VSS h) (fusel oils). The heterotrophic yield coefficient, determined based on the conventional OUR measurements, varied in a relatively narrow range (0.72–0.79 g COD/g COD) for all the examined carbon sources. Due to advantageous composition (much higher COD concentrations and COD/N ratios), fusel is a preferred carbon source for practical handling in full-scale wastewater treatment plants.

scholarly journals Comparison of Nitrogen Removal Efficiencies and Microbial Communities of Full-Scale Anaerobic, Anoxic and Aerobic Processes in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants having Low and High COD/TN Ratios

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Supaporn Phanwilai ◽  
Pongsak Noophan ◽  
Chi-Wang Li ◽  
Kwang-Ho Choo
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Removal Efficiency ◽  
Nitrogen Removal ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Biological Nutrient Removal ◽  
Distribution Analysis ◽  
Microbial Distribution

Abstract Full-scale anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic (A2O) process is used worldwide for biological nutrient removal (BNR). However, operation parameters for nitrogen removals and information of microbial communities related to nitrogen removal in full-scale A2O wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) having low and high COD/TN ratios are not available. Based on the analysis of four full-scale A2O WWTPs, it is suggested that maintaining longer SRT of ≥ 30 day and DO of ≥ 0.9±0.2 mg-O2 L-1 is needed to improve nitrogen removal efficiency under low COD/TN ratio (≤ 3.7). On other hand, at high COD/TN ratio (≥ 4.2), DO level of ≥ 2.6 mg-O2 /L and typical SRT of 19‒ 25 days would be suggested. It was confirmed that phosphorus removal efficiency significantly improved under BOD/TP ratio of > 20 for A2O process in these full-scale WWTP. Microbial distribution analysis showed that ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) was abundant under conditions of low DO level, longer SRT, high temperature and low COD/TN ratio (≤ 3.7). Nitrosomonas sp. are mostly found in aerobic tank of full-scale A2O WWTPs. However, abundances of Nitrosomonas sp. are proportional to DO and NH4+ concentrations for WWTPs with high COD/TN ratio. Nitrosospira sp. are only found under operating condition of longer SRT for WWTPs with low COD/TN ratio. Abundances of Nitrobacter sp. are proportional to DO concentration and temperature rather than abundance of Nitrospira sp. Predominance of nosZ-type denitrifiers were found at low COD/TN ratio. Abundance of denitrifiers by using nirS genes was over abundance of denitrifiers by using nirK genes at high COD/TN ratios WWTPs.

scholarly journals Archaeal nitrification is constrained by copper complexation with organic matter in municipal wastewater treatment plants

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joo-Han Gwak ◽  
Man-Young Jung ◽  
Heeji Hong ◽  
Jong-Geol Kim ◽  
Zhe-Xue Quan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Mechanistic Explanation ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Copper Complexation ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants

Abstract Consistent with the observation that ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) outnumber ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in many eutrophic ecosystems globally, AOB typically dominate activated sludge aeration basins from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this study, we demonstrate that the growth of AOA strains inoculated into sterile-filtered wastewater was inhibited significantly, in contrast to uninhibited growth of a reference AOB strain. In order to identify possible mechanisms underlying AOA-specific inhibition, we show that complex mixtures of organic compounds, such as yeast extract, were highly inhibitory to all AOA strains but not to the AOB strain. By testing individual organic compounds, we reveal strong inhibitory effects of organic compounds with high metal complexation potentials implying that the inhibitory mechanism for AOA can be explained by the reduced bioavailability of an essential metal. Our results further demonstrate that the inhibitory effect on AOA can be alleviated by copper supplementation, which we observed for pure AOA cultures in a defined medium and for AOA inoculated into nitrifying sludge. Our study offers a novel mechanistic explanation for the relatively low abundance of AOA in most WWTPs and provides a basis for modulating the composition of nitrifying communities in both engineered systems and naturally occurring environments.

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