Pilot Plant Study on Biological Nutrient Removal of Wastewater

An extensive biological nutrient removal pilot plant study of anoxic/anaerobic/ aerobic treatment process was conducted to eastblish an optimum operational mode using primary dffluent. Two operational modes, (1) Qr/Q was 3.0 and maintaining EMLSS of 3100 mg/L in which the best operational results were obtained from previous bench scale study using synthetic wastewater (2) Qr/Q was 0.5 and EMLSS of 2200 mg/L which was compatible with the main plant, were Compared and evaluated for removal of nitrogen and/or phosphorous under field conditions. The nitrogen removal increased with increasing recycle ratios, but the phosphorous removal revealed more consistent results with 83percent removal efficiency in the second mode compared with 80 percent in the first mode. Above all, the two modes equally showed good BOD and nitrogen removals by nitrification-denitrification processes. It was also observed that no scum formed in the pilot plant and the sludge exhibited excellent settling characteristic all the time. The modified biological nutrient removal train can be adopted to the main plant without any major changes of their operational modes.