Simultaneous removal of nitrogen and organic carbon from swine wastewater using the pre-denitrification/nitrification process

  • Marcelo Bortoli Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Francisco Beltrão, PR, Brasil Programa de Pós-graduação em Engenharia Ambiental (PPGEA). Departamento Acadêmico de Engenharia Ambiental (DAEAM).
  • Airton Kunz Embrapa Suínos e Aves, Concórdia, SC, Brasil Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (UNIOESTE), Cascavel, PR, Brasil Programa de Pós-graduação em Engenharia Agrícola (PGEAGRI).
  • Marina Celant De Prá Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Dois Vizinhos, PR, Brasil Coordenação do Curso de Engenharia de Bioprocessos e Biotecnologia.
  • Marcio Luis Busi Da Silva Embrapa Suínos e Aves, Concórdia, SC, Brasil
  • Ana Cé Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Francisco Beltrão, PR, Brasil Programa de Pós-graduação em Engenharia Ambiental (PPGEA).
  • Hugo Moreira Soares Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, SC, Brasil Departamento de Engenharia Química e de Alimentos.
Keywords: ammonia, high organic rate, nitrate.

Abstract

Wastewater from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) can interfere significantly with the natural nitrogen and phosphorus balance in the environment if not treated adequately prior to disposal. In this work, a modified Lutzak-Ettinger (MLE) consisting of sequential pre-denitrification/ nitrification was used to determine the effects of nutrient loading rates and hydraulic retention times (HRT) on total nitrogen (TN) and organic carbon (TOC) removal from swine wastewater. MLE reactor was continuously fed swine wastewater for over 205 days using different recycle ratios (Rr) and HRT. Higher TN and TOC removal efficiencies (90.7% and 96.1%, respectively) were obtained when recycling effluent from the nitrification tank (4.5:1) combined with effluent from the final clarifier (1:1). Removal efficiencies of 96% for TOC and 90% for TN were obtained for the maximum loading rates of 0.56 gTN L-1 d-1 and 2.15 g TOC L-1 d-1, respectively.  TN and TOC removal rates were achieved with HRT in as little as 3.5 days. Overall, MLE was a robust bioprocess withstanding variations in wastewater physical-chemical composition and/or changes in operational conditions without significant impairment of N and TOC removal efficiencies.


Published
12/03/2019
Section
Papers