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Experimental study of nutrient removal in an anaerobic hybrid upflow sludge blanket filtration bioreactor using response surface methodology

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Abstract

In this study, a novel laboratory-scale anaerobic hybrid upflow sludge blanket filtration bioreactor was designed and operated to improve the performance of the upflow sludge blanket filtration process for nutrient removal from municipal wastewater. The effect of operating parameters, including nutrient concentration [total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP)], biomass concentration, and hydraulic retention time (HRT), on nutrient removal were evaluated using response surface methodology. An industrial moving packed bed with 550 m2/m3 total specific surface area was used as the reactor media. It was found that increasing biomass concentration and HRT improved the removal efficiency for TN and TP. The results indicated that increasing nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations resulted in decreased removal rates. Additionally, there was an acceptable level of agreement between the experimental and model data (R2: 0.9896 and 0.9907 for TN and TP, respectively). The maximum removal efficiencies under optimum conditions were predicted by Design-Expert software to be 93% and 95% for TN and TP, respectively.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

COD:

Chemical oxygen demand

DO:

Dissolved oxygen

F/M:

Food-to-microorganism ratio

HRT:

Hydraulic retention time

OLR:

Organic loading rate

TN:

Total nitrogen

TP:

Total phosphorous

WWTP:

Wastewater treatment plant

PAOs:

Phosphate-accumulating organisms

PHA:

Polyhydroxyalkanoates

EBPR:

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Omrangostar Seymareh Company for providing the equipment. The anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged for their suggestions that helped to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

    H. Hashtroudi, M. Mojarrad & A. Noroozi

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

    Peyman Mahmoodi

Authors
  1. H. Hashtroudi
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  2. M. Mojarrad
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  3. A. Noroozi
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  4. Peyman Mahmoodi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Noroozi.

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Editorial responsibility: M. Abbaspour.

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Hashtroudi, H., Mojarrad, M., Noroozi, A. et al. Experimental study of nutrient removal in an anaerobic hybrid upflow sludge blanket filtration bioreactor using response surface methodology. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 16, 7683–7694 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-018-02182-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-018-02182-6

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