Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Partial nitritation at elevated loading rates: design curves and biofilm characteristics

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

There is a need to develop low operational intensity, cost-effective, and small-footprint systems to treat wastewater. Partial nitritation has been studied using a variety of control strategies, however, a gap in passive operation is evident. This research investigates the use of elevated loading rates as a strategy for achieving low operational intensity partial nitritation in a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) system. The effects of loading rates on nitrification kinetics and biofilm characteristics were determined at elevated, steady dissolved oxygen concentrations between 5.5 and 7.0 mg O2/L and ambient temperatures between 19 and 21 °C. Four elevated loading rates (3, 4, 5 and 6.5 g NH4+-N/m2 days) were tested with a distinct shift in kinetics being observed towards nitritation at elevated loadings. Complete partial nitritation (100% nitrite production) was achieved at 6.5 g NH4+-N/m2 days, likely due to thick biofilm (572 µm) and elevated NH4+-N load, which resulted in suppression of nitrite oxidation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. US Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. 1972 (2018) US Environmental Protections Agency, Washington. https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act. Accessed Feb 2018

  2. Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 27 May 1991 concerning urban waste water treatment (2018) https://www.ecolex.org/details/legislation/council-directive-91271eec-concerning-urban-waste-water-treatment-lex-faoc013224. Accessed May 2018

  3. Canadian Fisheries Act: Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (2012) Canada Gazetter Part II, 146(15). Retrieved from the Canada Gazette website: https://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2012/2012-07-18/html/sor-dors139-eng.html. Accessed May 2018

  4. World Resources Institute (2018) https://www.wri.org/our-work/project/eutrophication-and-hypoxia/sources-eutrophication. Accessed May 2018

  5. Delatolla R, Babarutsi S (2005) Parameters effecting hydraulic behaviour of aerated lagoons. J Environ Eng 131(10):1404–1413

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Mulder A, vandeGraaf AA, Robertson LA, Kuenan JG (1995) Anaerobic ammonium oxidation discovered in a denitrifying fluidized bed reactor. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 16:177–184

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Strous M, Heijnen JJ, Kuenen JG, Jetten MSM (1998) The sequencing batch reactor as a powerful toll to study very slowly growing micro-organisms. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 50:589–596

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Lackner S, Gilbert EM, Vlaeminck SE, Joss A, Horn H, van Loosdrecht MCM (2014) Full-scale partial nitritation/anammox experiences—an application survey. Water Res 55:292–303

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. van Dongen U, Jetten MSM, van Loosdrecht MCM (2001) The SHARON-Anammox process for treatment of ammonium rich wastewater. Water Sci Technol 44:153–160

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Rosenwinkel K, Cornelius A (2005) Deammonification in the moving-bed process for the treatment of wastewater with high ammonia content. Chem Eng Technol 28:49–52

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wett B (2007) Development and implementation of a robust deammonification process. Water Sci Tech 56:81–88

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Christensson M, Ekström S, Chan AA, Le Vaillant E, Lemarie R (2013) Experience from start-ups of the first ANITA Mox plants. Water Sci Tech 67:2677–2684

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Hellinga C, Schellen AAJC, Mulder JW, van Loosdrecht MCM, Heijnen JJ (1998) The SHARON process: an innovative method for nitrogen removal from ammonium-rich wastewater. Water Sci Tech 37:135–142

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Fux C, Huang D, Monti A, Siegrist H (2004) Difficulties in maintaining long-term partial nitritation of ammonium-rich sludge digester liquids in a moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR). Water Sci Tech 49:53–60

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Brockmann D, Morgenroth E (2010) Evaluating operating conditions for outcompeting nitrite oxidizers and maintaining partial nitrification in biofilm systems using biofilm modeling and Monte Carlo filtering. Water Res 44(6):1995–2009

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Park S, Wookeun B, Rittmann BE (2010) Operational boundaries for nitrite accumulation in nitrification based on minimum/maximum substrate concentrations that include effects of oxygen limitation, pH, and Free Ammonia and Free Nitrous acid inhibition. Envrion Sci Technol 44:335–342

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Park S, Chung J, Rittmann BE, Wookeun B (2014) Nitrite accumulation from simultaneous free-ammonia and free-nitrous-acid inhibition and oxygen limitation in a continuous flow biofilm reactor. Biotechnol Bioeng 112(1):43–52

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Gaul T, Märker S, Kunst S (2005) Start-up of moving bed biofilm reactors for deammonification: the role of hydraulic retention time, alkalinity and oxygen supply. Water Sci Technol 52(7):127–133

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Bartroli A, Pérez J, Carrera J (2010) Applying ratio control in a continuous granular reactor to achieve full nitritation under stable operating conditions. Envrion Sci Technol 44:8930–8935

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Wang R, Terada A, Lackner S, Smets BF, Henze M, Xia S, Zhao J (2009) Nitritation performance and biofilm development of co-and counter—diffusion biofilm reactors: modeling and experimental comparison. Water Res 43(10):2699–2709

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Huiliñir C, Romero R, Muñoz C, Bornhardt C, Roeckel M, Antileo C (2010) Dynamic modeling of partial nitrification in a rotating disk biofilm reactor: Calibration, validation and simulation. Biochem Eng J 52(1):7–18

    Google Scholar 

  22. Hao X, Heijnen JJ, van Loosedrecht MCM (2002) Sensitivity analysis of a biofilm model describing a one-stage completely autotrophic nitrogen removal (Canon) process. Biotechnol Bioeng 77:266–277

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Gilbert EM, Agrawal S, Schwartz T, Horn H, Lackner S (2015) Comparing different reactor configurations for partial nitritation/anammox at low temperatures. Water Res 81:92–100

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Piculell M, Christensson M, Jönsson K, Welander T (2016) Partial nitrification in MBBRs for mainstream deammonification with thin biofilms and alternating feed supply. Water Sci Tech 73:1253–1260

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Laureni M, Falâs P, Robin O, Wick A, Weissbrodt DG, Nielsen JL, Ternes TA, Morgenroth E, Joss A (2016) Mainstream partial nitritation and anammox: long-term process stability and effluent quality at low temperatures. Water Res 101:628–639

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Isanta E, Reino C, Carrera J, Pérez J (2015) Stable partial nitritation for low-strength wastewater at low temperature in an aerobic granular reactor. Water Res 80(1):149–158

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Bian W, Zhang S, Zhang Y, Li W, Kan R, Wang W, Zheng Z, Li J (2017) Achieving nitritation in a continuous moving bed biofilm reactor at different temperatures through ratio control. Biores Technol 226:73–79

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Peng Y, Gao S, Wang S, Bai L (2007) Partial nitrification from domestic wastewater by aeration control at ambient temperature. Chin J Chem Eng 15:115–121

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Durián U, del Val Rio A, Campos JL, Mosquera-Corral A, Méndez R (2014) Enhanced ammonia removal at room temperature by pH controlled partial nitrification and subsequent anaerobic ammonium oxidation. Environ Technol 35:383–390

    Google Scholar 

  30. Ganigué R, Gaborró J, Sànchez-Melsió A, Ruscalleda M, López H, Vila X, Colprim J, Balaguer MD (2009) Long-term operation of a partial nitritation pilot plant treating leachate with extremely high ammonium concentration prior to an anammox process. Biores Technol 100(23):5624–5632

    Google Scholar 

  31. Zhang L, Yang J, Hira D, Fuji T, Furukawa K (2011) High-rate partial nitrification treatment of reject water as a pretreatment for anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox). Biores Technol 102(4):3761–3767

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Garrido JM, van Benthum WAJ, van Loosdretcht MCM, Heijnen JJ (1997) Influence of dissolved oxygen concentration on nitrite accumulation in a biofilm airlift suspension reactor. Biotechnol Bioeng 53(2):168–178. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1097-0290(19970120)53:2%3c168:aid-bit6%3e3.0.co;2-m

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Li Y, Wang Z, Li J, Wei J, Zhang Y, Zhao B (2017) Inhibition kinetics of nitritation and half-nitritation of old landfill leachate in a membrane bioreactor. J Biosci Bioeng 123(4):482–488

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Zheng Z, Li Z, Ma J, Chen G, Bian W, Li J, Zhao B (2016) The nitritation performance of biofilm reactor for treating domestic wastewater under high dissolved oxygen. J Environ Sci 42:267–274

    Google Scholar 

  35. Delatolla R, Tufenkji N, Comeau Y, Gadbois A, Lamarre D, Berk D (2009) Kinetic analysis of attached growth nitrification in cold climates. Water Sci Tech 60:1173–1184

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Hoang V, Delatolla R, Laflamme E, Gadbois A (2014) An investigation of moving bed biofilm reactor nitrification during long-term exposure to cold temperatures. Water Environ Res 86:36–42

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Tian X, Ahmed W, Delatolla R (2017) Nitrifying bio-cord reactor: performance optimization and effects of substratum and air scouring. Environ Technol 1:1. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593330.2017.1397760

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. APHA, AWWA, WEF (1989) Standard methods for examination of water and wastewater. Washington, DC, 17th ed

  39. Delatolla R, Séguin C, Springthorpe S, Gorman E, Campbell A, Douglas I (2015) Disinfection byproduct formation during biofiltration cycle: implications for drinking water production. Chemosphere 136:190–197

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Delatolla R, Tufenkji N, Comeau Y, Gadbois A, Lamarre D, Berk D (2012) Effects of long exposure to low temperatures on nitrifying biofilm and biomass in wastewater treatment. Water Environ Res 84:328–338

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Young B, Delatolla R, Ren B, Kennedy K, Laflamme E, Stintzi A (2016) Pilot-scale tertiary MBBR nitrification at 1 °C: characterization of ammonia removal rate, solids settleability and biofilm characteristics. Environ Technol 37:2124–2132

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Young B, Delatolla R, Kennedy K, Laflamme E, Stintzi A (2017) Low temperature MBBR nitrification: microbiome analysis. Water Res 111:224–233

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Delatolla R, Berk D, Tufenkji N (2008) Rapid and reliable quantification of biofilm weight and nitrogen content of biofilm attached to polystyrene beads. Water Res 42:3082–3088

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Forrest D, Delatolla R, Kennedy K (2016) Carrier effects on tertiary nitrifying moving bed biofilm reactor: an examination of performance, biofilm and biologically produced solids. Environ Technol 37:662–671

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Young B, Delatolla R, Abujamel T, Kennedy K, Laflamme E, Stintzi A (2017) Rapid start-up of nitrifying MBBRs at low temperatures: nitrification, biofilm response and microbiome analysis. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 40:731–739

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Ødegaard H (1999) The moving bed biofilm reactor. Water environmental engineering and reuse of water. Hokkaido Press, Hokkaido, pp 250–305

    Google Scholar 

  47. Ciesielski S, Dorota K, Ewelina K, Przenyslaw K (2010) Characterization of bacterial structures in a two-stage moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) during nitrification of landfill leachate. J Microbiol Biotechnol 20:1140–1151

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Brockmann D, Morgenroth E (2008) Partial nitrification in biofilms: inhibition versus competition. In: Outline paper for IWA world water congress

  49. Bryers JD (1987) Biologically active surfaces: processes governing the formation and persistence of biofilms. Biotechnol Prog 3:57–68

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Flemming HC (1993) Biofilms and environmental protection. Water Sci Tech 27:1–10

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Beer DD, Stoodley P, Roe F, Lewandowski Z (1994) Effects of biofilm structures on oxygen distribution and mass transport. Biotechnol Bioeng 43:1131–1138

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. White C, Gadd GM (2000) Copper accumulation by sulfate reducing bacterial biofilms. FEMS Microbiol Lett 183:313–318

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Bjornberg C, Lin W, Zimmerman RA (2009) Effect of temperature on biofilm growth dynamics and nitrification in a full-scale MBBR system. In: Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation, WEFTEC: Session 61 through 70, pp 4407–4426

  54. Duan H, Ye L, Lu X, Yuan Z (2019) Overcoming nitrite oxidizing bacteria adaptation through alternating sludge treatment with free nitrous acid and free ammonia. Sci Technol Environ. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b06148

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the NSERC CREATE TECHNOMISE program for their contributions as well as Veolia Water Technologies Canada for technical support and in kind donations.

Funding

This study was partially funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant and NSERC CREATE grant in Technologies for Microbiome Science and Engineering (TECHNOMISE CREATE 497995-2017).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Environmental Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Alexander Schopf & Robert Delatolla

  2. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Environmental Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Kathlyn M. Kirkwood

Authors
  1. Alexander Schopf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Robert Delatolla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kathlyn M. Kirkwood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert Delatolla.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 987 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schopf, A., Delatolla, R. & Kirkwood, K.M. Partial nitritation at elevated loading rates: design curves and biofilm characteristics. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 42, 1809–1818 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-019-02177-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-019-02177-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation