• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2007

Sawdust biofiltration is an emerging bio-technology for control of ammonia emissions including compost odors from composting of biological wastes. Although sawdust is widely used as a medium for bulking agent in composting system and for microbial attachment in biofiltration systems, the performance of agitated bed composting and sawdust biofiltration are not well established. A pilot-scale composting of hog manure amended with sawdust and sawdust biofiltration systems for practical operation were investigated using aerated and agitated rectangular reactor with compost turner and sawdust biofilter operated under controlled conditions, each with a working capacity of approximately $40m^3\;and\;4.5m^3$ respectively. These were used to investigate the effect of compost temperature, seed germination rate and the C/N ratio of the compost on ammonia emissions, compost maturity and sawdust biofiltration performance. Temperature profiles showed that the material in three runs had been reached to temperature of 55 to $65^{\circ}C$ and above. The ammonia concentration in the exhaust gas of the sawdust biofilter media was below the maximum average value as 45 ppm. Seed germination rate levels of final compost was maintained from 70 to 93% and EC values of the finished compost varied between 2.8 and 4.8 ds/m, providing adequate conditions for plant growth.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.55-65
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• 1999

AF(anaerobic filter)/BAF(biological aerated filter) system and UASB(upflow anaerobic sludge blanket)/BAF system, of which system effluents were recirculated to the anaerobic reactors in each system, were operated in order to investigate the performance in simultaneous removal of organics and nitrogen in high-strength dairy wastewater. Advanced anaerobic treatment processes of AF and UASB were evaluated on applicability as pre-denitrification reactors, and BAF was also evaluated on the performance in oxidizing the remaining organics and ammonia nitrogen. At system HRTs of 4.0 to 4.5 days and recirculation ratios of one to three, the AF/BAF system could achieve more than 99% of organics removals and 64 to 78% of total nitrogen removals depending upon the recirculation ratio. Although the UASB/BAF system also showed more than 99% of organics removals, total nitrogen removals in the UASB/BAF system were 53 to 66% which are lower than those in the AF/BAF system at the corresponding recirculation ratios. Optimum recirculation ratios considering simultaneous removal of organics and nitrogen and cost-effectiveness, were in the range of two to three. The upflow AF packed with crossflow module media, as a primary treatment of the anaerobic reactor/BAF system, showed better performances in denitrification, SS removals, and gas production than the UASB. Higher loading rate of suspended solids from the UASB increased the backwashing times in the following BAF. Especially, at a recirculation ratio of three in the UASB/BAF system, the increase in head loss due to clogging in the BAF caused frequent backwashing, at least once d day. The BAF showed the high nitrification efficiency of average 99.2% and organics removals more than 90% at organics loading rate less than $1.4KgCOD/m^3/d$ and $COD/NH_3-N$ ratio less than 6.4. It was proved that the simplified anaerobic reactor/BAF system could maximize the organics removal and achieve high nitrogen removal efficiencies through recirculation of system effluents to the anaerobic reactor. The AF/BAF system can, especially, be a cost effective and competitive alternative for the simultaneous removal of organics ana nitrogen from wastewaters.