Issue 11, 2024

Sustainable treatment for low ammonia nitrogen sewage wastewater in cold climates: natural polymer gel–organic synthetic polymer embedded anammox bacteria immobilized pellets

Abstract

The sewage denitrification process is concerned mainly with the treatment of industrial water with high NH4+–N (>500 mg N L−1). In this work, the denitrification effect of hybrid carrier (a natural polymer gel and an organic synthetic polymer)-embedded anammox bacteria pellets to treat NH4+–N urban sewage wastewater at low temperature through batch and continuous tests was studied. After 99 days of operation in a UASB reactor, the rapid start-up of anammox was realized. The TN volumetric load grew gradually as the influent substrate concentration increased. The final influent water had an NH4+–N load of 300 mg L−1, an HRT of 5 h, a temperature of 32 °C, and NH4+–N and nitrite nitrogen removal efficiencies above 85%. Batch tests for polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl alcohol–sodium alginate and polyvinyl alcohol–sodium bicarbonate pellets were performed. The optimized pellets performed exceptionally well in terms of mass transfer, elasticity, and mechanical strength. Embedded carrier materials are enhanced by added sodium alginate, silica powder, CaCO3 powder and iron powder. A device containing embedded anammox bacteria pellets (EABP) was more resistant to low-temperature stress throughout the process of gradually cooling and lowering NH4+–N than a device containing mature free sludge. In the analysis and strengthening test of EABP at 15 °C, NH4+–N removal increased from 59% to 99%. At an HRT of 10 h, the increase in rate reached 67.8%. Compared to unembedded anammox bacteria pellets, the PS/PN of embedded pellets was lower, and the sludge activity and settleability were improved. Increasing HRT improved the ability of the embedded bacteria to withstand low temperatures, stimulating bacterial strains to produce more EPS. This study can be used to build a test to simulate future engineering applications in protecting the freshwater environment from the potential deleterious effects of pollutants from untreated sewage wastewater under low-temperature conditions and ammonium concentrations.

Graphical abstract: Sustainable treatment for low ammonia nitrogen sewage wastewater in cold climates: natural polymer gel–organic synthetic polymer embedded anammox bacteria immobilized pellets

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Jun 2024
Accepted
16 Aug 2024
First published
16 Aug 2024

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2024,10, 2809-2830

Sustainable treatment for low ammonia nitrogen sewage wastewater in cold climates: natural polymer gel–organic synthetic polymer embedded anammox bacteria immobilized pellets

J. Li, S. Tabassum and H. Altundag, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2024, 10, 2809 DOI: 10.1039/D4EW00538D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements