November 2007: Nutrient Removal Volume 1 | Issue 5 Editorial Nutrient Removal and the Water Environment Alan Scrivner, Dimitri Katehis

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A Pilot-Scale Comparison of IFAS and MBBR to Achieve Very Low Total Nitrogen Concentrations
Terry L. Johnson, Andrew Shaw, Heather Phillips, Nancy Choi, Thomas Lauro, Ralph Butler, Leah Radko
Abstract

Testing Corrective Action Strategies to Mitigate the Impact of Toxic Shock Events in Activated Sludge Systems
Ameet J. Pinto, Jeremy S. Guest, Nancy G. Love, Andy Shaw, Andrew W. Fairey,Patty L. Iler, John K. Earle, David Shellenbarger, and Douglas Barker
Abstract

MBBR and IFAS Pilot Program for Denitrification at Fairfax County’s Noman Cole Pollution Control Plant
Sarah Motsch, Dan Fetherolf, George Guhse, John McGettigan, Tom Wilson
Abstract

The Importance of Aerobic Mixing, Biofilm Thickness Control and Modeling on the Success or Failure of IFAS Systems for Biological Nutrient Removal
Dipankar Sen, Clifford W. Randall, Rhodes R. Copithorn, Markku Huhtamäki, Greg Farren, Wayne Flournoy
Abstract

Tertiary Phosphorus Removal Pilot Tests Technology Limits In Coeur D’Alene, ID
Mario Benisch, Dave Clark, J.B. Neethling, H. Sid Fredrickson, April Gu
Abstract

Operating Experience of the First and Largest Low Level Nitrogen Removal Facility in Long Island Sound
Jeanette Brown, Thomas A. Sadick, Glen T. Daigger
Abstract

Optimization of the Nitrogen Removal at Käppala Wastewater Treatment Plant
Anna Maria Sundin
Abstract

Review of Methods for Improving Nitrification through Bioaugmentation
Denny Parker, Jiri Wanner
Abstract

Diurnal Flow Equalization and Prefermentation Using Primary Clarifiers in a BNR Plant
Anna Mikola, Jyri Rautiainen, Heikki Kiuru
Abstract

Design and Operation of Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor Plants for Very Low Effluent Nitrogen and Phosphorus Concentrations
Bjorn Rusten, Hallvard Ødegaard
Abstract

Key Parameters for Control of DEMON Deammonification Process B. Wett, S. Murthy, I. Takács, M. Hell, G. Bowden, A. Deur, M. O’Shaughnessy
Abstract

Terry L. Johnson^1*, Andrew Shaw¹ , Heather Phillips¹, Nancy Choi¹, Thomas Lauro², Ralph Butler³, Leah Radko³

¹ Black & Veatch Corporation, Kansas City, Missouri 64114.
² Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities.
³ Westchester County Department of Public Works.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract
In northern Europe, the Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) process, which uses equipment almost identical to that used for the Integrated Fixed-film Activated Sludge (IFAS) process but has only an attached-growth biomass, has proven to be a good nutrient removal choice for facilities that treat low-strength waste and operate at low temperatures. Pilot testing of both processes was carried out at the Mamaroneck wastewater treatment plant in Westchester County, New York, where conditions are similar to those encountered in northern Europe. The program was intended to test the ability of both MBBR and IFAS to meet a future total nitrogen effluent limit of approximately 4 mg/L. The loading to the pilot unit was pushed to its maximum during the lowest winter temperature, enabling the two processes to be assessed under maximum stress conditions.  Results from the pilot testing confirmed that either process would be capable of achieving the target total nitrogen concentration.

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Ameet J. Pinto¹, Jeremy S. Guest¹, Nancy G. Love^1*, Andy Shaw², Andrew W. Fairey³, Patty L. Iler³, John K. Earle³, David Shellenbarger⁴, Douglas Barker⁴

¹Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
²Black & Veatch
³Charleston Water System
⁴Long Creek Water Resources Reclamation Facility
^*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract
The effect of toxic shock inputs on wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) requires that operators know the probable process effect from the contaminant(s) and the appropriate operational corrective action(s) to take to minimize or mitigate the impact of the shock event.  The wastewater treatment industry currently lacks a systematic framework of tested response guidelines and corrective action protocols to be implemented during and after toxic shock events.  In this paper, we present the testing of corrective action plan matrices (CAPMs) developed for two biological treatment configurations (conventional and 5-stage Bardenpho) experiencing a toxic shock event.  The two configurations were shocked with calcium hypochlorite and corrective actions stipulated by the CAPMs were performed.  Results indicate that corrective actions implemented were not suitable for the simulated shock event and may lead to longer recovery times for the perturbed systems.  This study highlights the need for contaminant and WWTP configuration-specific corrective action strategies.

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Sarah Motsch¹, Dan Fetherolf¹, George Guhse², John McGettigan³, Tom Wilson^3*

¹ Fairfax County, Noman M. Cole Pollution Control Plant, 9399 Richmond Highway, Lorton, VA 22079
² Greeley and Hansen, 6551 Loisdale Court, Suite 603, Springfield, VA, 22150
³ Earth Tech, 675 N. Washington Street, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314,
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. 

Abstract
As part of a nutrient reduction program, developed to meet new Virginia ENR requirements, two innovative denitrification technologies were piloted at the Noman Cole Jr. Water Pollution Control Plant in Fairfax County, Virginia.  The first technology was a Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR).  The second technology was a modified Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) process.  These studies have shown that both technologies can be used for denitrification at the plant. Each was shown to be easily capable of reducing the pilot influent NOx-N of 7 mg/L to below 2 mg/L NOx-N at the loadings studied.  The MBBR system was shown to be sensitive to influent ortho-phosphate levels below 1.0 mg//l.  Only about 1.25 gm of excess TSS was produced per gm of NOx-N removed, in the MBBR system.

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The Importance of Aerobic Mixing, Biofilm Thickness Control and Modeling on the Success or Failure of IFAS Systems for Biological Nutrient Removal

Dipankar Sen^1*, Clifford W. Randall², Rhodes R. Copithorn³, Markku Huhtamäki⁴, Greg Farren⁵, Wayne Flournoy⁶

¹Santa Clara Valley Water District, 5750 Almaden Expressway, San Jose, CA 95118, USA.
²Department of Civil Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
³Stearns & Wheler, Cazenovia, NY, USA.
⁴Juurocon Oy, Naantali, Finland.
⁵Anne Arundel County DPW, MD, USA.
⁶Entex Inc, NC, USA.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract
Research on full scale Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) and Mobile Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) systems showed that problems developed with excessive biofilm thickness when the mixing and roll patterns decreased.  Evaluated media included fixed bed cord media, moving bed sponge media and moving bed plastic media. Three strategies are recommended. (1) Process modeling should be used to determine the soluble biodegradable COD (SCODbio) and N profiles along the aerobic cells and adjust the volume, quantity of media or MLSS MCRT if SCODbio concentration in any cell is excessive.  (2) Where process changes cannot lower the SCODbio and control thickness, the mixing and aeration systems should be improved by switching to a more vigorous roll pattern with coarse bubble diffusers and jet mixing. (3) The type of media selected should be such that the biofilm specific surface area does not decrease significantly as the thickness increases from 0.1 to 1 mm. 

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¹ HDR Portland, OR.
² City of Coeur d’Alene, ID.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract
Spokane River dischargers face restrictive phosphorus discharge limits that are technically challenging. A tertiary phosphorus removal pilot at the wastewater treatment plant was conducted between June and October 2006. Technologies from four different manufacturers were tested on their ability to reliably produce effluent total phosphorus (TP) concentrations of less than 50 g/L and less then 10 g/L. The demonstration pilot showed that effluent total phosphorus concentration of less than 50 g/L can be produced by at least two of the tested technologies, Blue Water Technologies Blue Pro (DSBP) and Siemens Trident® HS-1 (THS-1). While not fully demonstrated, GE (Zenon) ultrafiltration (ZW-500) and Parkson Incorporation Dual Sand (DSD2) would also likely be able to meet 50 g/L. None of them showed ability to meet a 10 g/L TP limit. While there were a number of days with 10 g/L or less, they were few and far between.

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Jeanette Brown^1*, Thomas A. Sadick², Glen T. Daigger²

¹ Stamford WPCA, Harbor View Avenue, Stamford, CT 06902.
²CH2M HILL, Englewood, CO, 80112.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract
Located on the Western reach of long Island Sound near New York City, the Stamford, CT, Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) was the first municipality in CT to begin experimenting with nitrogen removal in the early 1990s and conducted a study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to demonstrate new nitrogen removal technology.  This project was followed in the late 90’s by plant improvements to further enhance nitrogen removal (50 to 60% nitrogen removal).  The Stamford WPCA recently completed and commissioned a $105M nitrogen upgrade and expansion to 90,840 m3/day (24 mgd).  About $50M was associated with nitrogen removal processes.  Designed to achieve nitrogen removal on the order of 80 to 90% to levels of 4 mg/L Total nitrogen (TN) or less, the upgraded plant has been operating in the high level nitrogen removal mode since the spring of 2006.

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Anna Maria Sundin

¹Kappala association, Box 3095, 18103 Lidingö, Sweden.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract
Kappala association operates Kappala WWTP, a wastewater treatment plant designed for 220 000 m3/day. The plant comprises of mechanical, biological, chemical treatment and a final filtration step. During 2002-2003 the discharge limit of total nitrogen of 10 mg/l in the effluent was nearly exceeded, and measures were taken to improve the nitrogen removal. An uneven internal loading of supernatant from the dewatering was found to be the main cause of the inefficient nitrogen removal. A control strategy using on-line redox measurements in the end of the anoxic zone to control the nitrate recirculation has been evaluated, looking at the nitrogen removal efficiency and the energy consumption. The results of the project led to an increase of the degree of N-removal from 75 to 81%, corresponding to 8.7 mg/l as a yearly average in the effluent tot-N. During 2005 the energy consumption at Käppala WWTP was 27.8 GWh, corresponding to 24% of the operating cost of the plant. The results of an energy survey of the plant are also presented.

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Denny Parker^1*, Jiri Wanner²

¹ Director of Technology, Brown and Caldwell, PO Box 8045, Walnut Creek, CA 94596;
² Professor of Water Technology, Prague Institute of Technology, Czech Republic
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract
The high costs of upgrading treatment plants for either nitrification or nutrient removal has spurred many investigators to examine bioaugmentation as a means to increase nitrification rates and thereby reduce the costs (and space requirements) for nitrification.  In this paper, two types of bioaugmentation schemes are reviewed, external and in situ.  The advantage of external bioaugmentation schemes is that the promotion of nitrification within the mainstream process can be decoupled from its aerobic SRT.  The advantage of in situ schemes is that there is less concern about the loss of activity of the seed nitrifiers when transferred to the mainstream process.   The literature is reviewed on all process types, and new information is provided on the Bioaugmentation R (BAR) process which has seen the broadest full-scale application of any bioaugmentation scheme.   The various forms of bioaugmentation are compared and contrasted and the practical limitations in their implementation are reviewed.

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Anna Mikola^1*, Jyri Rautiainen², Heikki Kiuru¹

¹Helsinki University of Technology, Laboratory of Water and Wastewater engineering, P.O.BOX 5200 FI-02015 TKK, Finland.
²Kiuru & Rautiainen Oy, Olavinkatu 18LH21, 57130 Savonlinna, Finland.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract
A full-scale 18 month study at Pihlajaniemi treatment plant in Savonlinna Finland (PE 30 000) investigated the feasibility of using the primary clarifiers for diurnal flow and load equalization as well as for volatile fatty acid (VFA) production. The objective was to improve the process performance of the biological nutrient removal (BNR) process and find better use for the old primary clarifiers. Equalization in this study decreased flow rate variations by 38% on an average. During the best months the flow to the biological process was practically constant. Hydrolysis was successful. The VFA concentration increased by 50%. The simultaneous removal of raw sludge did not cause any problems. The most visible process benefit of the new primary treatment was improved nitrification. The transformation of old primary clarifiers for multipurpose primary tanks proved to be economically and technically feasible solution for responding to the requirements of BNR process.

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Bjorn Rusten^1*, Hallvard Ødegaard²

¹Aquateam-Norwegian Water Technology Centre, P.O. Box 6875 Rodelokka, N-0504 Oslo, Norway.
²Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Dep. of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, S. P. Andersens vei 5, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.


Abstract
Out of six plants with nitrogen removal in Norway, four plants use the Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) process.  In all four cases the MBBR process offered a very compact treatment solution and had both the lowest investment costs and the lowest total annual costs.  These MBBR plants use the combined denitrification process (pre-denitrification + post-denitrification) for nitrogen removal, followed by chemical precipitation for phosphorus removal.  This type of design offers a lot of flexibility and enables the plants to produce very low effluent concentrations.  External carbon sources used for post-denitrification are ethanol, methanol and monopropylene glycol.  The plants have maximum design flows from 1,125 to 7,200 m3/h (7.1 to 45.6 mgd).  Years of full-scale experience from these MBBR plants has documented that final effluent concentrations below 3 mg total N/L and 0.3 mg total P/L can be achieved at low wastewater temperatures and at acceptable capital and O & M costs.

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B. Wett^1*, S. Murthy², I. Takács³, M. Hell⁴, G. Bowden⁵, A. Deur⁶, M. O’Shaughnessy⁷

¹Institute of Environmental Engineering, University of Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
²DCWASA, DWT, 5000 Overlook Ave., SW Washington, DC 20032, U.S.A.
³EnviroSim Associates Ltd., 7 Innovation Drive, Suite 205, Flamborough ON L9H 7H9, Canada.
⁴Wastewater Association AIZ, Strass, Austria.
⁵Metcalf & Eddy Inc., 605 Third Avenue, NY 10158, U.S.A.
⁶NYCDEP, 96-05 Horace Harding Expwy, Corona, NY 11368 New York, U.S.A.  
⁷Alexandria Sanitation Authority, 1500 Eisenhower Av., Alexandria, VA 22314, U.S.A.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract
A suspended growth deammonification process has been in full-scale operation for over two years in Austria. Three US utilities have embarked on piloting this process at two locations: New York City and Alexandria, Virginia. Deammonification is a two-part autotrophic reaction involving two distinct biomass populations. In the first step aerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) nitrify partially ammonia to produce nitrite. In the second step anaerobic ammonia oxidizing microorganisms (anammox) autotrophically denitrify these products to nitrogen gas. Alkalinity limitations and ammonia inhibition are used to control the production of near equimolar nitrite and ammonia, while limiting nitrite toxicity is key to facilitating autotrophic denitrification. The paper describes the parameters that are important to control single-sludge suspended growth deammonification and how the DEMON process uses pH to control the two key reactions, at the same time controlling residual nitrite levels to prevent nitrite toxicity.

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