Cost effective nitrogen removal - Novel control strategies

Abstract

The anammox process, used to remove nitrogen from wastewaters is conside red a promising approach due to its advantages over traditional processes. The current study emphasizes on the cost effective nitrogen removal from the sidestream effluent of anaerobic digester with partial nitration (PN) and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process for the municipal wastewater treatment plant. The main objective of this study was to model a cost effective strategy for setting up a lab-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) by using activated sludge model (ASM) process equations with applying novel control strategies (NCS) for improving nitrogen-removal efficiency (NRE). An average rate of removal 80% was obtained during the period of its operation. NCS (intermittent aeration, alteration in the cycle length, etc) were introduced to optimize the operating cost. The overall system contributes to lowering in the greenhouse gas emissions by minimizing the use of energy (60-65%) and hence supporting the WHO mission of achieving sustainable development goals. Results further indicate the future possibility of escalating the lab-scale to full-scale applications.