Energy-efficient anaerobic ammonia removal: From laboratory to full-scale application

Abstract

From discovery in the early 1990s to completion of full-scale anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) reactor, it took almost two decades to uncover the secret veil of anammox bacteria. There were three milestones during the commercialization of anammox: the development of the first enrichment culture medium, completion of first commercial anammox reactor, and fast start-up of full-scale anammox plant. Till now, the culture of anammox bacteria experienced a big progress through two general strategies: (a) to start up a reactor from scratch, and (b) to seed the reactor with enriched anammox sludge. The first full-scale anammox reactor took 3.5 years to realize full operation using the first approach due to several reasons besides the lack of anammox sludge. On the contrary, the first Asian anammox reactor started up in 2 months, thanks to the availability of anammox seed. Along with the implementation of anammox plants, anammox eventually becomes the priority choice for ammonium wastewater treatment.