Integrating waste activated sludge (WAS) acidification with denitrification by adding nitrite (NO2−)

Adding nitrite (NO2−) to waste activated sludge (WAS) fermentation systems is an efficient approach to integrate fermentation with denitrification, and utilize volatile fatty acids (VFAs) to achieve a high nitrogen removal rate even at low C/N ratios. In this study, the effect of nitrite on the integrated WAS fermentation and denitrification (termed as WASFD) was investigated under acidic and alkaline conditions. The results indicated that adding nitrite achieved a most reduction of nitrite to N2 and improved the acidification of WAS with high VFAs production. Under acidic condition (pH = 5), the maximum VFAs produced with nitrite addition was 3.3 times that without nitrite addition. Higher concentration of free nitrous acid (FNA) at the pH of 5 increased WAS particulates, improved the hydrolysis of organic substrates, and finally promoted VFAs yields. Under alkaline condition (pH = 9), adding nitrite only increased the VFAs production by 1.5 times, indicating that acidic condition was preferable for acidification than alkaline condition.